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V* 





NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST 









PREFACE 


The present is thought to be a fitting time for bringing 
to the minds of children the life-story of one of the most 
heroic of Americans. The history of this country pre¬ 
sents no parallel to the career of Nathan B. Forrest, who 
won a place among the foremost soldiers of a war distin¬ 
guished for generals of ability and high professional 
training. 

The exploits of Forrest are among the chief glories 
of the Confederacy. In Virginia the Confederate army 
was led by some of the greatest generals the world has 
known, and it went from victory to victory. In the West, 
on the other hand, the Southern army suffered from poor 
leadership, and its history is that of heroic valor and en¬ 
durance in the face of heavy odds and in spite of every 
disaster. 

A single ray of constant victory gilded the darkness 
of Confederate defeat in the West—the career of For¬ 
rest. Until his last battle at Selma, when he was over¬ 
whelmed by sheer weight of numbers, the great cavalry¬ 
man seldom fought without conspicuous success. In the 
midst of armies defeated and breaking-up, his skill and 
courage shone with brilliant light. With the passing of 
time and a proper understanding of what Forrest accom¬ 
plished with the smallest of means, his fame has so grown 
that there are not wanting those who hold him to be the 
greatest military genius that the American continent has 
produced. 

In the preparation of the book, full use has been made 
of Dr. John A. Wyeth’s Life of General Nathan Bedford 



Forrest, which is a monument of scholarship and a work 
of great literary charm. Other books, such as Du Bose’s 
General Wheeler and the Cavalry of the Army of Ten¬ 
nessee, General Richard Taylor’s Destruction and Recon¬ 
struction, J. Harvey Mathes’ General Forrest, and the 
Southern Historical Society Papers have been found valu¬ 
able. Acknowledgment is also due Nathan Bedford For¬ 
rest, Jr., the grandson of the general, for a letter to his 
father published in the text, and for the picture used as 
a frontispiece. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I Early Life. 9 

II The Business Man. 20 

III The Cavalry Colonel. 27 

IV The Raider. 44 

V The Capture of Streight. 65 

VI The Major-General. 80 

VII The Storming of Fort Pillow. 93 

VIII The Victory of Brice's Cross-Roads. ... 102 

IX The Defense of Mississippi. 116 

X The Last Great Raid. 130 

XI Hood's Retreat . 146 

XII The Last Battle . 156 

XIII After the War. 166 

XIV The Military Genius. 176 

War Poems. 181 


17 ] 

















Forrest fought like a knight-errant for the cause he 
believed to be that of justice and right. No man who 
drew the sword for his country in that struggle deserves 
better of her; and as long as the deeds of her sons find 
poets to describe them and fair women to sing them, the 
name of this gallant general will be remembered with love 
and admiration . 


—Lord Wolseley. 


Life of Nathan B. Forrest 


CHAPTER ONE 

EARLY LIFE 

Among the great soldiers whom America has 
given to the world, few names stand higher than 
that of Nathan B. Forrest, the cavalry general. 
The story of his life should be known to every 
boy and girl. It shows us that courage and hard 
work lead to the highest success in spite of 
every hindrance. It teaches the good lesson of 
faithfulness to duty in the face of the greatest 
difficulties and dangers. 

Nathan Bedford Forrest was born in Bedford 
county, Tennessee, on July 13 , 1821 . He opened 
his eyes in a poor cabin in the backwoods, far 
from cities and towns. The light came through 
the cracks between the rough logs which formed 
the walls of the little one-story house. There 
were no windows, but windows were hardly 
needed where holes were so many and so large. 


[ 9 ] 



10 


LIFE OF FORREST 


One end of the cabin was taken up with a broad 
fireplace, where huge logs cut from the forest 
trees were burned. 

Around the house was a cleared space of sev¬ 
eral acres, fenced with rails; a part of it was 
orchard and garden, the rest, cornfield. Across 
the road from the cabin stood a log blacksmith 
shop, from which all day long came the clink 
of a hammer as William Forrest, the father of 
Bedford,—the name by which the son was 
usually called,—worked at his trade. 

William Forrest was a pioneer, as were his 
fathers before him. The first of these of whom 
we have knowledge was Shadrach Forrest, who 
moved from Virginia to North Carolina about 
1740 . When the settlements extended west¬ 
ward the Forrests went with them, and William 
Forrest was taken to middle Tennessee as a 
small boy. 

He grew up to be a blacksmith, although he 
also worked on his farm, raising corn and other 
crops. In 1820 he married a girl of Scotch blood 
named Mariam Beck whose family had moved 
from South Carolina to Tennessee a few years 
before. William Forrest was a sober, honest, 


EARLY LIFE 


11 


hard-working man, and he did his best to care 
for a large family. The little that is known of 
him shows him to have been a man of worth, a 
fit father for a great soldier. 

It was from his mother, however, that Forrest 
received those qualities that were to bring him 
great success in war and place his name on the 
roll of fame. Mariam Forrest was a remarkable 
woman. She stood nearly six feet tall and 
weighed one hundred and eighty-six pounds. 
Her blue eyes were gentle and kind, but her high 
cheek-bones, broad forehead and deeply-lined 
face told of her courage and great strength of 
will. It was {his same iron will which made it 
possible for Nathan B. Forrest to overcome all 
obstacles. 

On one occasion Mrs. Forrest showed her de¬ 
termination and bravery in a very striking way. 
The Forrest family had moved from Tennessee 
to Mississippi into a region little better than a 
wilderness. There were no roads, only paths 
through the dense woods, and all travel was on 
horseback. One day Mrs. Forrest and her sis¬ 
ter, Fannie Beck, rode to a neighbor’s house to 
pay a visit. Just as they were about to leave, 


12 


LIFE OF FORREST 


the neighbor made Mrs. Forrest a present of 
several chickens in a basket. The visit had been 
a long one, and by the time the two women were 
on their way home the sun had set. In the thick 
forest it soon began to grow dark. 

When Mariam Forrest and her sister were 
about a mile from home, riding along the nar¬ 
row path, they heard the scream of a panther 
in the bushes near by. The women at once knew 
that the animal was following them, hungry for 
the chickens, which it had scented. They urged 
their horses to a run in spite of the rough path. 
Fannie Beck, in front, shouted back to her sis¬ 
ter to drop the chickens for the panther to eat. 
But Mrs. Forrest stoutly refused to heed this 
advice, and the chase went on. 

Near the cabin the women were forced to rein 
in their horses to cross a creek. The panther 
caught up with them and leaped from the bank 
on Mrs. Forrest, striking her in the shoulder 
with his front paws and sinking his hind paws 
deep in the horse's back. Wild with pain and 
fright, the horse plunged, breaking the panther's 
grip. The beast, in falling, ripped the clothes 
from Mrs, Forrest’s back and tore her flesh. 


EARLY LIFE 


13 


With blood streaming from her wounds, she 
kept hold of the chickens, and was still holding 
them when her son Bedford lifted her from the 
horse at the door of her home. 

A little later the boy went into the woods with 
his dogs in pursuit of the panther. The dogs 
treed it, but Bedford had to wait until daylight 
in order to see. When dawn broke through the 
forest, there lay the great cat on the limb of a 
tree, lashing its tail and snarling at the dogs 
beneath it. Bedford shot the panther and car¬ 
ried home to his mother its scalp and ears. 

Mariam Forrest long outlived her first hus¬ 
band and married a second time. By this latter 
marriage she had three sons and a daughter. 
The oldest of the sons, a lad of eighteen and a 
clerk in a nearby town, joined the Southern 
army in 1861 . One day he came to his mother’s 
farm clad in a fine gray uniform with brass but¬ 
tons and gold lace. That evening his mother 
said to him, “J ose Ph, I want you to get up early 
in the morning and go to mill with a sack of 
corn.” It was the custom of the country then 
to ride to the mill on horseback with a bag of 
corn and bring in return a bag of meal. Joseph 


14 


LIFE OF FORREST 


was troubled, however, because he was afraid 
that he would soil his uniform by riding on a 
meal sack. 

The next morning everyone came to break¬ 
fast but the young soldier. His mother sent the 
negro servant to his room to awaken him. “I am 
not going to put up with any city airs on this 
place,” she said. The servant came back in a 
few minutes with the message from Joseph that 
“he did not intend to go to mill; she might as 
well send one of the negroes with the corn.” 
When the mother heard this impudent message, 
she was too surprised to move or speak for a 
moment. Then she rose from the table, saying 
that she would be back in a little while. 

She went out into the garden, broke off sev¬ 
eral peach switches, and sought the sleeping 
warrior. Joseph was given the soundest whip¬ 
ping of his life, after which he was glad enough 
to put on an old suit of farm clothes and ride off 
to the mill. The mother returned to the break¬ 
fast table with red cheeks and flashing eyes. 
“Soldier or no soldier,” she said, “my children 
will obey me as long as I live.” 

Such was the mother of the great general. 


EARLY LIFE 15 

The home of the Forrests was built in the 
midst of gre.at woods, and here Bedford spent his 
childhood. In many ways the life was a good 
one for the making of a soldier. The boy lived 
out of doors, working hard on the farm and 
learning to ride, swim, and shoot. He thus 
gained a strength of body that was to stand him 
in good stead in war; he also became a fine rider 
and marksman. He learned to depend on him¬ 
self when hunting wild animals in the depths 
of the forest, and so grew up to be brave and 
manly. 

Early in life he gave proof of his great cour¬ 
age. Once he was out picking blackberries with 
a number of other small children when a rattle¬ 
snake appeared. The children dropped their 
baskets and buckets and ran. Not so Bedford 
Forrest. He called to his playmates to come 
back, and when they failed to heed him killed 
the reptile with a stick. He went home, carry¬ 
ing the rattlesnake in triumph. 

In 1834 , when Bedford was thirteen years old, 
the family moved from middle Tennessee to 
northern Mississippi, into a section of country 
which had shortly before belonged to Indians. 


16 


LIFE OF FORREST 


The Indians had moved across the Mississippi 
river, leaving their lands open to white settlers. 
William Forrest built a small cabin on a stream 
in Tippah county and began to clear away the 
woods. The country was even wilder than the 
part of Tennessee where Bedford had been born. 
The boy had to work hard and there was almost 
no chance for schooling. He learned to read 
and write, but he had little or no time to give 
to other school studies. His mind, however, was 
quick and active, and he could always express 
his thoughts in forceful language. He knew so 
well the value of an education that when he 
began to prosper in business, he sent his younger 
brother to college and paid his expenses while 
there. 

Bedford, the eldest son, had the whole burden 
of the family resting on his shoulders. When 
he was sixteen years old his father died, and 
he had to take his father’s place. With his 
brothers’ aid, he cleared the land of trees, raised 
crops of corn, oats, and cotton, and gathered 
some cattle and horses. 

In later life, when he had become famous, 
General Forrest would tell how he worked all 


EARLY LIFE 


17 


day in the fields and came home at night to make 
buckskin leggings and shoes and coonskin caps 
for his little brothers. Nearly everything used 
was made on the place. The mother and aunt 
spun the yarn and cotton thread, wove cloth on 
wooden looms, cut and sewed the clothes and 
knit the socks. Little came to the backwoods 
farm from the outside world save sugar and 
coffee. 

William Forrest’s death did not bring greater 
poverty to his family, as is so often the case 
when the father dies. Bedford was a farmer and 
business man of such good sense and energy that 
by the time he was twenty years old, he had pro¬ 
vided for his mother and brothers. There was 
no longer any danger of want. 

Bedford was as brave and determined as he 
was hard-working and successful. A neighbor 
owned art ox which leaped fences at will and 
ate up Bedford’s grain. Young Forrest again 
and again asked the neighbor to put a yoke on 
the ox, to keep him from jumping fences. The 
man did nothing, however, and Bedford at last 
lost patience; he gave warning that he would 
shoot the animal if it came again on his land. 


18 


LIFE OF FORREST 


When the ox once more leaped the fence into 
Bedford’s field, the youth shot him dead with a 
rifle. The owner of the ox, who was plowing 
in a nearby field, ran up to the fence with his 
gun, ready to fight. Bedford loaded his rifle and 
quietly told the man that he would kill him if 
he tried to climb the fence. The neighbor was 
so much struck by Forrest’s coolness that he 
stayed on his side of the fence and kept the 
peace. 

A young man of this temper easily turns sol¬ 
dier. In 1841, when Forrest was twenty years 
old, a military company was raised in the neigh¬ 
borhood to go to Texas. Texas was not then a 
part of the United States; it was a country by 
itself, with its own government, but it was still 
in danger from Mexico, from which it had sepa¬ 
rated. Soldiers were raised for Texas in all the 
Southern States. 

Bedford joined this company and went to New 
Orleans with it. Here the band halted, as there 
were no means of reaching Texas. Some of the 
men returned home; the others, among them 
Forrest, made their way to Houston, where they 
found that Texas had no need of soldiers. The 


EARLY LIFE 


19 


company at once broke up; the members were 
left to get home as best they could. Forrest 
worked as a farm hand until he earned enough 
money to carry him back to his plantation in 
Mississippi. 

Pi'oneer: one who goes into a new, unsettled terri¬ 
tory. 

Ob'stacle: something in the way; hindrance. 

Marks' man: one who shoots well. 

Tell a story that shows Mrs. Forrest’s bravery. Tell 
one that shows how she managed her children. 

Give an account of Forrest’s birth and early sur¬ 
roundings. 

Tell how Forrest helped to make his father’s farm a 
success. 

Give an incident that shows how brave and deter¬ 
mined Forrest was. 

Tell of Forrest’s first experience as a soldier. 


CHAPTER TWO 

THE BUSINESS MAN 


Bedford stayed on the farm a year longer. 
Then, in 1842, an uncle living in Hernando, 
Mississippi, offered to take the youth into his 
business. Bedford accepted the offer, remaining 
in Hernando until 1851. The business pros¬ 
pered and he grew to be well-to-do. 

An incident in Hernando showed young For¬ 
rest’s fighting spirit. His uncle, Jonathan For¬ 
rest, had made enemies of a family of planters; 
the quarrel ended in bloodshed. One day the 
planters, four in number, attacked Jonathan 
Forrest when he was in Bedford’s company. 
The latter had nothing to do with the dispute, 
but he was shot at and wounded, while the elder 
Forrest was fatally hurt. Bedford, drawing a 
double-barreled pistol from his pocket, shot two 
of the men. As he had no other weapon, he 
would probably have been killed by the remain¬ 
ing planters, if a bystander had not handed him 


[20] 


THE BUSINESS MAN 21 

a bowie knife. With this Bedford drove off his 
other enemies. It was so well known that he 
had fought solely in self-defense that he was not 
brought to trial. 

In this year, 1845, when not quite twenty-five 
years old, Forrest married Mary Montgomery,, 
a woman of education and charm. He made her 
acquaintance in a very romantic way. He was 
riding along one morning through the country 
when he came on a carriage stuck fast in a 
creek. Two ladies were looking helplessly from 
the carriage-windows, while two men sat on 
their horses nearby, making no effort to help 
them. Forrest waded out to the vehicle and car¬ 
ried the ladies to dry land. Then, with the help 
of the driver, he succeeded in getting the car¬ 
riage out of the creek. His naturally high tem¬ 
per had been aroused by the behavior of the two 
men and he told them that if they did not leave 
at once he would thrash them well. The men 
rode away without replying. 

The rescued women were Mrs. Montgomery 
and her daughter. Forrest asked permission to 
call on them, which was given. A few days 
later he paid a call and was astonished and dis¬ 
gusted to find waiting in the parlor the same 




22 LIFE OF FORREST 

two men who were with the ladies at the creek. 
He again ordered them to leave, and they obeyed 
without a word. 

Forrest fell in love with the beautiful Mary 
Montgomery and on his second visit asked her 
,to marry him. The young lady was surprised 
and hesitated, but the suitor declared that the 
next time he came he would bring a minister 
and a marriage license. He did this, and they 
were married on September 25, 1845, a few 
weeks, after their first meeting. 

Mary Forrest was the best of wives, and For¬ 
rest’s married life lasted with unbroken happi¬ 
ness until the day of his death. He had one son, 
William, who became a Confederate soldier at 
the age of fifteen, and a daughter, Fanny, who 
died in childhood. 

For the next few years Forrest was engaged 
in business on a large scale. Cotton-planting 
made trade brisk and led to a demand for negro 
slaves, who were better able to work in the low 
grounds than white settlers. Forrest raised 
cotton, sold real estate, and traded in slaves. 
There was a strong feeling against slave-traders, 
even in the South, because they were sometimes 


THE BUSINESS MAN 


23 


cruel to the negroes and often divided families. 
Forrest, by his honesty and his kind treatment 
of the blacks, overcame this feeling and won 
the esteem of his fellow-citizens. He kept his 
negroes clean, looked after their health, and 
! took care not to part husbands and wives and 
mothers and children. Many slaves begged him 
to buy them because of his good name as a 
master. 

Forrest was like a hero in a story book—he 
was constantly having adventures, in time of 
peace as well as in war. In 1852 he sailed on 
a steamer for Galveston from some point on the 
coast of Texas. The ship was old and worn-out, 
and the captain was a drunken, reckless man. 
In the night he began a race with another 
steamer. Forrest, rising, was surprised to find 
that the smokestacks were red-hot, the furnaces 
roaring, and the timbers creaking, while the 
drunken captain was ordering more fuel to be 
thrown into the flames. 

Forrest pleaded with him to give up the race, 
but in vain. A few minutes later the boilers 
burst, killing sixty people, among them the cap¬ 
tain. Forrest took an active part in rescuing 





24 


LIFE OF FORREST 


the wounded, escaping with only a bruised 
shoulder. 

After living in Hernando for a number of 
years, he moved to Memphis. In the larger city 
he carried on his business with success. He 
was honest, hard-working and reliable, and had 
good judgment; before long he became one of 
the leading citizens of Memphis. 

In 1859, Forrest gave up his real estate busi¬ 
ness and slave trading, in order to devote him¬ 
self to cotton planting. He had bought vast 
tracts of land in Mississippi, which he farmed 
most successfully; he is said to have raised a 
thousand bales of cotton a year, yielding a 
profit of $30,000. This was a very large income 
for those days. Starting out as a boy of six¬ 
teen with nothing in the world and a family to 
support, he had risen to be one of the wealthiest 
and most respected men in his section. What 
he had done had been done by means of hard 
work and good common sense. Fie had earned 
his success. 

Not long after moving to Memphis, Forrest 
showed his power over other men, that power 
which was later to make him a famous soldier. 


THE BUSINESS MAN 


25 


One day as he walked along the street he heard 
a great noise and found that a mob was break¬ 
ing into the county jail for the purpose of lynch¬ 
ing a prisoner. 

With no thought of his own safety but 
anxious only to save a life, Forrest rushed into 
the jail and threw himself between the prisoner 
and the mob. Drawing a knife and holding it 
high in his hand, he called out in loud tones that 
he would kill anyone who laid hands on the 
trembling man. He then made so strong an 
appeal to the better feelings of the crowd that 
the lynching was at once dropped. 

Forrest was elected an alderman and served 
Memphis with great zeal and ability for several 
years. A story is told of him which shows his 
s^ense of honor, his scorn of wrong-doers. On 
one occasion he went with other aldermen to 
examine a stone wharf which had just been built 
for the city. On account of some small defect, 
several of the aldermen wished to condemn the 
whole piece of work. Forrest asked them on 
what ground they had come to make their 
decision. 

“We have decided to condemn the whole job,” 





26 LIFE OF FORREST 

said one of them. “That will break up the con¬ 
tractor, and then we can give the work to our 
friends. We want you to help us.” 

Forrest turned on the speaker with blazing 
eyes. “You scoundrel!” he cried. “Do you 
think I am as big a rascal as yourself? If you 
make any such proposal to me again, I will break 
your neck.” 

The work was accepted and it still stands, a 
monument to Forrest’s honesty. 

Roman'tic: unusual, like a tale in a story book. 

Lynch' ing : unlawful killing by a mob. 

In' come: amount of money coming to one in a year. 

Tell of Forrest’s first meeting with his wife. 

Give an account of his life as a business man in Her¬ 
nando and in Memphis. 

Give an incident that shows his honesty. 

Give an incident that shows Forrest’s fighting spirit; 
one that shows his power over other men. 


CHAPTER THREE 

THE CAVALRY COLONEL 

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected Presi¬ 
dent of the United States as an opponent of 
slavery. His election was soon followed by the 
secession of the Southern States from the Union. 

The South believed that the right of self-gov¬ 
ernment was in danger from Northern attacks 
on slavery. The North and South had quarreled 
over the questions of allowing slaves to come 
into the territory of the Union and of admitting 
new States to the Union as slave States or free 
States. A part of the Northern people had come 
to hate the South on account of slavery; and in 
October, 1859, a man named John Brown had 
made a raid into Virginia for the purpose of 
setting free the slaves and robbing the slave¬ 
holders. He was captured and hanged for mur¬ 
der and treason, along with several of his 
followers. 

The two sections had been growing apart for 
many years. There was little in common be- 


[ 27 1 


28 


LIFE OF FORREST 


tween the manufacturing North and the cotton¬ 
raising South, with its great plantations worked 
by negroes. When Lincoln was elected, the 
South thought that the time had come for it 
to set up its own government—a government 
which would be free from interference. 

In the winter of 1861, South Carolina, Ala¬ 
bama, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, 
and Georgia left the Union and formed the Con¬ 
federate States of America. Later, Virginia, 
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas joined 
the young Confederacy, which fixed its capital 
at Richmond, Virginia. 

The United States government would not ad¬ 
mit the right of a State to leave the Union, and 
thus the great war broke out in 1861. 

Tennessee was the last State to secede. 
Opinion was a good deal divided in Tennessee. 
East Tennessee, the mountain country lying 
west of North Carolina, was largely opposed to 
secession; middle Tennessee, between the moun¬ 
tains and the Tennessee river, and west Tennes¬ 
see, between the Tennessee and Mississippi 
rivers, favored the Southern cause. This dif¬ 
ference lasted through the war. 


THE CAVALRY COLONEL 


29 


Nathan B. Forrest was stoutly Southern in 
his feelings; he firmly believed in the right of 
States to form their own government and go 
their own way. A man so bold and so strong 
in his belief in the Confederate cause could not 
stay long out of the army, but Forrest had no 
wish for military rank. Although wealthy and 
respected, he entered the service as a private 
soldier in Josiah White’s Tennessee mounted 
rifles, on June 14, 1861. This company after¬ 
ward became a part of the famous Seventh Ten¬ 
nessee regiment, probably the finest cavalry 
regiment ever seen in America. It served with 
great glory through the whole war, surrender¬ 
ing May 9, 1865, at Gainesville, Alabama. 

Such a leader of men as Forrest did not re¬ 
main a private long, for good officers were sorely 
needed. He was given leave to raise a force of 
cavalry and set to work at once with his usual 
energy. Sending out agents to secure soldiers 
in Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi, Forrest 
himself hastened to Kentucky, where he bought 
guns, pistols, blankets, and other military 
supplies. 

By October, 1861, Nathan B. Forrest had 



30 


LIFE OF FORREST 


raised a force of eight companies of mounted 
men, numbering six hundred and fifty in all. 
He was elected lieutenant-colonel, and D. C. 
Kelley, major. In spite of his efforts to get 
weapons for his men, one-half of them had noth¬ 
ing better than double-barreled shotguns, which 
they had brought from home, and many of the 
others were poorly armed. 

As soon as the troops were ready for duty, 
they were sent to aid Colonel Heiman, who was 
throwing up an earthwork on the Cumberland 
river, afterward known as Fort Donelson. Some 
one wrote at this time: “Colonel Forrest’s regi¬ 
ment of cavalry, as fine a body of men as ever 
went to the field, has gone to Fort Donelson. 
Give Forrest a chance and he will win glory.” 

The first fighting took place when Forrest’s 
cavalrymen fired on the Federal gunboats and 
freight steamers on Cumberland river. No great 
damage was done, but it pleased Forrest to see 
that his men behaved well under fire. 

In December, 1861, he started out on the first 
of those raids which were to make him famous. 
He struck north into Kentucky and reached the 
Ohio river, gathering hogs, cattle, and horses 


THE CAVALRY COLONEL 


31 


and driving them south for the use of the Con¬ 
federate army. At the village of Sacramento, 
Forrest came across a body of five hundred Fed¬ 
eral cavalry. In this, his first battle, he showed 
his inborn ability for war. Dismounting a part 
of his force to hold the enemy in front, he sent 
mounted men to the right and left to fall upon 
their flanks. The Northern horsemen, attacked 
in front and on both sides, broke and fled, leav¬ 
ing a number of killed and wounded. Forrest’s 
commander, General Clark, wrote in his report: 
“It was one of the most brilliant and successful 
cavalry engagements that the present war has 
seen.” 

Early in February, 1862, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Forrest was ordered back to Fort Donelson, 
which he reached a few days later. By this time 
he had won the love and confidence of his men. 
Major Kelley says: “In the short period since 
its organization, the command found that it was 
his single will that was to govern their move¬ 
ments. Everything necessary to supply their 
wants and to make them comfortable he was 
quick to do, but he would not change his plans. 
To them everything had to bend.” 


32 LIFE OF FORREST 

Fort Donelson was one of the most important 
defenses of the Confederacy in the West. The 
fort was a strong earthwork on the Cumberland 
river near the Kentucky line and only a few 
miles from Fort Henry on the Tennessee river. 
It stood on a high hill overlooking the beautiful 
Cumberland and kept the Northern gunboats 
from going up that stream into Tennessee. As 
long as the Confederates held it, the Federal 
gunboats could do little in that State; if it were 
lost, the way would be open for the conquest of 
Tennessee. 

* General U. S. Grant, commanding the Fed¬ 
eral army, captured Fort Henry on the Ten¬ 
nessee river, which was held by a small force of 
Confederates, and marched toward Fort Donel¬ 
son. At the same time Commodore Foote 
steamed up the Cumberland river with a great 
fleet of gunboats. 

As the Federal army slowly approached Fort 
Donelson, Forrest’s cavalry held it back and ob¬ 
structed its way. Cavalry, when present with 
an army, try to hinder the movements of the 
enemy’s army and gain information about it. 
This duty Forrest did so well that the Southern 



Copyright, Harper and Brothers. 

FORREST AT FORT DONELSON 




34 


LIFE OF FORREST 


generals at Fort Donelson knew just what Grant 
was doing. 

On February 13, 1862, the Federal army made 
an assault on the earthworks at Fort Donelson, 
but was driven back with heavy loss. The next 
day, Foote’s gunboats attacked the batteries 
along the river with the same result. The boats 
dropped down the stream to get out of the range 
of the Confederate guns. 

At this moment a large number of fresh 
troops joined Grant, and others were known to 
be on the way. The Southern generals decided, 
therefore, to attack Grant the next morning and 
open a way of escape for their troops to Nash¬ 
ville; they had given up the hope of holding Fort 
Donelson against Grant’s growing army. John 
B. Floyd was in command of the fort; under him 
were Generals Buckner and Pillow. 

General Pillow led the attacking column sent 
out against Grant, while Forrest went in front 
with thirteen hundred cavalry. It was in the 
gray dawn of a cold, dreary winter’s day that 
Forrest took his place at the head of his men 
and rode out to his first great battle. He was 
the very picture of a soldier. A rider from 


THE CAVALRY COLONEL 


35 


boyhood, he sat his horse with a firm and easy 
seat. His blue eyes looked out keenly from un¬ 
der a broad-brimmed felt hat. His wide, high 
forehead, broad nose, and square jaw, covered 
with beard, told of his strong, self-willed nature; 
his tall, broad-shouldered, muscular body showed 
his strength. He was about to prove his powers 
as a fighting man. 

The Southerners came on the Federal lines 
about six o’clock. For two hours a fierce and 
bloody fight raged; then the Northern troops 
began to falter. Forrest, who was guarding the 
left wing of the Confederate army with his cav¬ 
alry, now rode behind Grant’s right wing. The 
moment the Federals wavered he saw that his 
chance had come and charged straight into the 
blue ranks at the head of his horsemen. 

The Federals, hard pressed in front and at¬ 
tacked by Forrest in the rear, gave way at one 
point and another. It was the time for the 
Southern line to charge and win the battle. 
Forrest begged General Bushrod Johnson, com¬ 
manding the Confederate left wing, to advance 
before the enemy could recover. Johnson re¬ 
fused because he could not find General Pillow 





36 


LIFE OF FORREST 


and get his consent to attack. The Southern 
line stood still. 

Forrest would not stay idle, even if the gen¬ 
erals made no effort to complete the victory. 
He charged a battery of six cannon and cap¬ 
tured it, and later took two other pieces of artil¬ 
lery. His horse was killed in the charge, and 
for a time he was on foot in the midst of the 
enemy and in great danger. A second horse 
was killed under him a few minutes later. 

The Confederates had had the better of the 
fighting so far, but they had not driven the 
Federals from the field. The generals now 
ordered the troops to fall back to the fort. The 
Federals, no longer pressed, advanced in turn, 
taking a small part of the outer breastworks. 
The losses on the Northern side had been far 
heavier, and the Confederate soldiers were in 
high spirits over their partial success. They 
thought that they would win a great victory the 
next morning. 

Forrest was worn out with a day of hard fight¬ 
ing, but he was hopeful of the result; every¬ 
where that his cavalry had fought they had been 
successful. At midnight he was sent for to at- 




THE CAVALRY COLONEL 


37 


tend a council of the generals. What was his 
amazement, on reaching headquarters, to find 
that the commanders were talking of surrender! 
They told him that Grant’s troops had gone back 
to the position they had held in the morning, 
thus cutting off the Confederates from the road 
to Nashville. Forrest spoke earnestly against 
surrender. He said that the army was not 
beaten and that it could easily escape if the 
fort was to be held no longer. Pillow agreed 
with the cavalryman; Floyd and Buckner 
thought that there was no hope. It was decided 
to surrender. 

Forrest now showed his strength of charac¬ 
ter; his head was never cooler. Knowing that 
he could get away from the fort, he made up his 
mind not to yield, no matter what the rest of 
the army did. His scouts had learned that the 
road to Clarksville was open. It crossed a creek 
three feet deep and the weather was freezing 
cold, but no Federal soldiers barred the way. 

Forrest lost no time in returning to his sleep¬ 
ing men and rousing them. Telling them of the 
state of affairs, he offered to take out of the 
fort all who would follow him. The soldiers at 



38 LIFE OF FORREST 

once mounted their horses and rode after him 
into the darkness through the heavily-falling 
snow; they escaped with ease, while the rest,of 
the Southern army laid down its arms next day. 

Forrest made his way with his cavalry to 
Nashville. Here everything was in wild con¬ 
fusion. The Confederates knew that they could 
not hold the city after the fall of Fort Donelson 
and were preparing to go south. No efforts 
were being made, however, to save the vast 
quantities of provisions and stores piled up in 
Nashville for the use of the army. 

Amidst the panic-stricken crowd, Forrest kept 
his head, working hard to move the supplies. 
He succeeded in saving the greater part of them 
and did not leave the town until the Federal 
troops were entering it. He then hurried with 
his cavalry to Murfreesborough, where General 
Albert Sidney Johnston, the Confederate com¬ 
mander in the West, was making ready to give 
battle. 

In March, 1862, Forrest's command was 
raised to a full regiment and he became a colonel. 
For the next month he was in front of John- 


FORREST ESCAPING FROM FORT DONELSON 









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40 


LIFE OF FORREST 


stoiTs army, holding the roads and scouting on 
every side to get information of the enemy’s 
movements. At this time General Grant was 
at Shiloh with the army which had taken Fort 
Donelson. Forrest learned that General Buell, 
with a large force of troops, was on his way to 
the Tennessee river to join Grant. He at once 
sent the news to Johnston, who decided to strike 
Grant before Buell could come to his help. 

The battle of Shiloh began early in the morn¬ 
ing of April 6, 1862. The Confederates, advanc¬ 
ing, drove back the Federals for more than a 
mile and seemed to have won a great victory. 
Forrest, in the very front of the Southern line, 
fought splendidly; his cavalry captured a Fed¬ 
eral battery and kept General Prentiss from 
reaching the rest of the Northern army, now 
on the Tennessee river. Prentiss surrendered 
with three thousand of his men. 

Never were the hopes of the Confederates 
higher than at this moment. The Federal army 
was beaten and flying, and the Tennessee river 
cut it off from retreat. Forrest, riding among 
the Confederate skirmishers, saw the disorder 
in the enemy’s ranks; he sent word to General 


THE CAVALRY COLONEL 


41 


Polk, commanding a wing of the Southern 
army, that one more charge of the infantry 
would drive the Northern troops into the river 
and end the battle. Just at this time, however, 
General Johnston was killed, and the Southern 
line halted. 

The battle closed late in the afternoon. The 
Confederates had won a victory, but they had 
failed to destroy the Federal army, as they 
might have done. In the night Forrest’s scouts 
brought him the news that steamboats were 
coming up the river in great numbers and land¬ 
ing troops at Grant’s camp. Forrest at once 
went to General Beauregard, now in command 
of the Southern army, and told him that he must 
attack the enemy without delay or he would be 
beaten next day by Grant’s new troops. Beaure¬ 
gard heard what Forrest had to say but did 
nothing; the Southern soldiers slept on through 
the night while the Northern army was busily 
preparing to renew the struggle at daylight. 

Early in the morning, Grant advanced against 
the Confederate lines with twenty-five thousand 
fresh troops. The Southern army was pressed 
back by weight of numbers, and Beauregard 


42 LIFE OF FORREST 

ordered a retreat. The Federals, flushed with 
victory, moved forward in pursuit. 

The Confederates were in great danger. The 
duty of guarding the retreating army and hold¬ 
ing back the advancing enemy fell on Forrest, 
the cavalry commander. He had done all pos¬ 
sible to win a victory at Shiloh; he now saved 
the army by his skill and courage. 

When the Federal horsemen began to press 
hard on the rear of the Confederates, Forrest 
turned suddenly on them with his whole force. 
The Federal cavalry were hurled back on the 
infantry behind, and the infantry thrown into a 
panic. The Southern troopers rode in among 
the enemy, shooting them down and cutting 
them with swords. Forrest was carried by his 
wild horse so far into the Federal ranks that he 
found himself alone and surrounded by blue- 
coats. Cries of “Shoot that man! Knock him 
off his horse!” arose on all sides. A bullet 
struck Forrest, passing through his back and 
lodging against the .spine. He was barely able 
to keep his seat in the saddle and spur his horse 
out of the press. 

This charge checked the pursuit of the South- 


THE CAVALRY COLONEL 


43 


ern army, and Beauregard reached Corinth, 
Mississippi, without further loss. Forrest did 
not get over the wound for some weeks. He 
went back to duty the last of April, but the 
wound reopened and the bullet had to be cut 
out. His strength was so great, his health so 
perfect that he soon felt no bad effects from 
an injury which would have killed a weaker man. 

Ter' ri to ry: a great tract of land. 

Se cede': to leave, to go away from. 

Se ces' sion: the act of seceding. 

Cav' al ry: soldiers who fight on horseback. 

In'fan try: soldiers who fight on foot; foot soldiers. 

Artil'lery: great guns, cannon; also that branch of 
an army which fights with cannon. 

Bat' ter y: a group of cannon. 

Skir' mish ers: the soldiers going in front of an army 
as it enters battle. 

Tell what led to the War between the States and name 
the States that seceded from the Union. 

Show how Forrest’s ability as a soldier was recog¬ 
nized. 

Give an account of: 

Forrest’s first raid. 

His service at Fort Donelson. 

His work at Nashville. 

His part in the battle of Shiloh. 

His service in the retreat. 



CHAPTER FOUR 

THE RAIDER 


From Fort Donelson to Shiloh, that is, through 
the first months of 1862, Forrest was with the 
Southern army. He gained news of the enemy’s 
movements, guarded the wings of the army, and 
fought with great bravery in every battle; he 
also saved his own men at Fort Donelson and 
aided the Confederate retreat to Corinth. All 
this time he had been under the direct command 
of the Southern generals. He was now to show 
what he could do as a cavalry leader acting 
alone. 

One of the chief duties of cavalry is raiding: 
that is, riding to the rear of the enemy’s army, 
attacking wagon trains, tearing up railroad 
tracks and burning bridges—doing everything, 
in a word, to make it hard for the enemy to 
move forward. As a raider Forrest gained a 
name for himself that will last as long as the 
history of war; he was feared by the Federal 
generals to the very last. 


[ 44 ] 





THE RAIDER 


45 


When Forrest was once more able to fight, he 
found that the Confederate Generals Braxton 
Bragg and Kirby Smith were about to move 
north from Chattanooga to invade Kentucky. 
In June, 1862, he was suddenly told to raise a 
cavalry brigade; he was not allowed to take his 
famous regiment with him but had to build up 
an entirely new command. Nothing daunted by 
the l@ss of his brave and well-trained men, For¬ 
rest set to work with such energy that by the 
middle of July he had formed the brigade. 

Use was soon found for it; Forrest made up 
his mind to attack the Northern garrison at 
Murfreesborough. His column reached the out¬ 
skirts of the town in the morning of July 13, 
1862. The Federal pickets halted the leading 
horsemen with the challenge, “Who goes 
there?” “A company of Federal cavalry on 
the way to join its regiment,” was the reply. 
The sentinels did not find out the trick until too 
late; they were surrounded and ordered to lay 
down their arms. Not a gun had been fired, and 
the Federal garrison had no idea that the South¬ 
ern troops were at hand. 

Forrest quickly formed his plan for attack. 


46 


LIFE OF FORREST 


Dividing his force into three columns, he rode 
boldly into the town. Many of the Federal sol¬ 
diers, taken by surprise, were made prisoners 
in the first rush. The Federal commander, how¬ 
ever, rallied some of his men and formed a hasty 
stockade of army wagons arranged in a circle. 
One of the Confederate columns surrounded this 
wagon-stockade, waiting for Forrest to come up 
and take command. 

Forrest had charged with a part of his men 
straight to the heart of the town, where the jail 
and courthouse were. The jail had been set on 
fire, but the Southern soldiers rushed inside the 
burning building, put out the blaze, and freed 
a number of Confederate prisoners. The doors 
of the courthouse were battered in, and then the 
Federal troops within threw down their guns 
and surrendered. 

Forrest now turned to attack a force coming 
into the town. The Federals were quickly sur¬ 
rounded and forced to surrender. In this fight 
a soldier fired at Forrest from behind a wagon 
only a few feet away. The bullet missed its 
mark and the cavalry leader shot the man with 
a pistol. 





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48 


LIFE OF FORREST 


By this time all the Northern troops had been 
captured except those in the stockade. Sending 
a flag of truce to the commander, Forrest 
ordered him to surrender. After considering the 
question a few minutes, the Federals yielded 
without further fighting. 

Two of the Confederate prisoners in the 
Murfreesborough jail were awaiting death as 
spies. One of them, Lieutenant William Rich¬ 
ardson, while a regular soldier, had been cap¬ 
tured in citizen’s clothes in company with a spy 
and so had been judged to be a spy himself. 
The two men were preparing for death when 
Forrest’s cavalry came charging into the town. 
A Federal soldier set fire to the jail and the 
prisoners would have been burned alive if the 
brave Southern horsemen had not run in amidst 
the smoke and flames and saved them. 

The taking of Murfreesborough was one of 
the finest cavalry feats of the war. It made For¬ 
rest famous. He had boldly ridden within the 
Federal lines and captured twelve hundred pris¬ 
oners, four cannon, sixty wagons, and five hun¬ 
dred horses. He had also burned military 
stores worth $500,000 and had torn up a rail- 




THE RAIDER 


49 


road used for carrying supplies to the North¬ 
ern army. 

The raid had far-reaching results. It forced 
the Federal generals to draw their forces to¬ 
gether to protect their supply stations, so that 
they had fewer men to use against the hard- 
pressed Southern army in northern Mississippi. 
The raid also brought Forrest to the notice of 
the Confederate government, which, on July 21, 
1862, gave him the rank of brigadier-general. 

Although the Federal troops were now 
marching from every side to surround Forrest, 
the raider did not mean to leave middle Tennes¬ 
see without striking further blows. He rode 
from place to place, capturing small stockades, 
tearing up railroad tracks, and burning rail¬ 
road bridges. The Federals tried in vain to 
catch him. General Buell sent this message to 
General Nelson, who was hunting Forrest: 
“Destroy Forrest if you can.” Nelson wearily 
plodded after the raider back and forth across 
middle Tennessee and at last sent word to 
Buell: “In this hot weather, it is hopeless, with 
infantry, to chase Forrest's command mounted 
on race-horses." 



50 


LIFE OF FORREST 


Forrest at last turned toward Chattanooga to 
join Bragg’s army, which was moving north¬ 
ward. He was not a moment too soon. The 
pursuers were closing in around him and the 
raider found himself in great danger. Learning 
that all the roads to the front and rear were 
held by the enemy in large numbers, Forrest 
hid his men in the woods until the Federals be¬ 
hind him had passed. Then he took again to 
the roads. Near McMinnville he was attacked 
by a Federal force just as his cavalry column 
was wheeling from the turnpike into a side road. 
Forrest, with that part of his force already in 
the side road, kept on his way, while the rear 
of the column, cut off by the enemy, rode into 
the fields and made its way across country to 
join the leader. 

On September 3, 1862, Forrest reached 

Bragg’s army at Sparta, Tennessee. Bragg sent 
him to oppose the Federal army under Buell, 
which was also marching northward. Bragg and 
Buell were racing for Louisville, and if Forrest 
could hold Buell back Bragg would have an ad¬ 
vantage. Forrest did his work well. He fought 
Buell’s advance so stubbornly that Bragg might 


THE RAIDER 


51 


easily have reached Louisville if he had only 
hurried. 

At this moment Forrest was taken from active 
service in the field. Most of Tennessee was in 
the hands of the Confederates, and Bragg 
thought that soldiers might be raised for the 
Southern cause. No officer in the army had met 
with greater success in getting soldiers than 
Forrest, and late in September, 1862, he was 
ordered to hand over his brigade to another 
officer and enroll a new force. 

The loss of his brigade, which he had trained 
and led successfully, was a blow to Forrest. But 
he was thoroughly loyal and, without a word of 
complaint, began the task of building up another 
cavalry command. His fame as a leader was so 
widespread by this time that in little more than 
a month two thousand men gathered under his 
standard. The greater part of them were Ten¬ 
nesseeans, but there were also Kentuckians, 
Alabamians, and Mississippians; among them 
were several of Forrest’s best officers—Colonel 
James .W. Starnes of the Fourth Tennessee cav¬ 
alry and Captain John W. Morton of the 
artillery. 


52 


LIFE OF FORREST 


General Joseph Wheeler was now placed in 
command of all the Confederate cavalry in Ten¬ 
nessee. He at once sent Forrest with his new 
brigade into west Tennessee to break up the 
lines of supply in the rear of Grant’s army, 
which was then in northern Mississippi. The 
men were poorly armed; some of them carried 
old flintlock muskets, shotguns and squirrel 
rifles. When Forrest asked Bragg for arms, he 
was told to take them from the enemy. 

The task before Forrest was a difficult one. 
With a force of raw troops, half-armed, he had 
to cross the Tennessee river, nearly a mile 
wide, and fight the Northern cavalry, far more 
numerous, better-armed and better-drilled than 
his own men. Then when he had finished his 
raiding, he must recross the broad river into 
middle Tennessee. 

The Tennessee river flows north across Ten¬ 
nessee, cutting the State in two. West Tennes¬ 
see, the section lying between the Tennessee 
and Mississippi rivers, was filled with Federal 
troops, while to the south, along the Mississippi 
State line, lay Grant’s great army. West Ten¬ 
nessee was, therefore, a kind of trap, since the 


THE RAIDER 


53 


only way of escape from it lay in crossing the 
wide and rapid Tennessee. 

By the middle of December, 1862, Forrest had 
safely passed over the Tennessee river and 



GENERAL JOSEPH WHEELER 


started out on his raid through west Tennessee. 
The crossing was mostly done at night, when 
the Northern gunboats could not discover what 
was going on. Small ferry boats were the only 
means of passage. Whenever a Federal gun¬ 
boat came steaming along, the ferry boats were 


54 LIFE OF FORK - ^T 

run behind a wooded island and hidden—to be 

brought out again after the enemy had passed. 

In this way Forrest got his men over a river 

which would have stopped almost any other 

commander. 

Once across the stream, Forrest took care to 
spread a report that his command was much 
larger than it really was. He did this to keep 
small forces of Federals from attacking him and 
to make them surrender easily when attacked. 
General Grant telegraphed to Admiral Porter: 
“Forrest and Napier are now\on this side of the 
river with- from five to ten thousand men.” The 
Federal generals began to draw their forces to¬ 
gether rapidly in order to capture the trouble¬ 
some raider. 

Meanwhile Forrest rode to Lexington, where 
he defeated a force of Federal cavalry, captur¬ 
ing Colonel Ingersoll, the commander. He then 
hastened west until he reached the Mobile and 
Ohio railroad near Jackson. The Confederates 
pressed northward along the railroad, destroy¬ 
ing it mile by mile. 

Colonel Starnes captured a stockade at Hum¬ 
boldt and burned a railroad bridge at that place. 


4he raider 


55 


Forrest himself took a larger stockade at Tren¬ 
ton, where vast quantities of cotton and supplies 
were destroyed. From Jackson as far north as 
Moscow, Kentucky, the railroad was completely 
torn up; not a foot of trestle-work remained, 
and not a culvert, while the rails were ruined by 
heating and bending them. 

By this time the enemy were coming up on 
all sides, hoping to overwhelm him. On Decem¬ 
ber 19, General Sullivan sent word to Grant: “I 
have Forrest in a tight place. The gunboats are 
up the river [Tennessee] as far as Clifton and 
have destroyed all the boats and ferries. My 
troops are moving on him in three directions, 
and I hope with success.” 

At McKenzie, Forrest learned that a force of 
the enemy was marching so as to get between 
him and the Tennessee river and thus cut off 
his retreat. As his single means of escape was 
in crossing the Tennessee, he at once turned in 
that direction. His first difficulty was in pass¬ 
ing over the Obion river, a few miles south of 
McKenzie. All the bridges had been burned by 
the Federals but one, and that was thought to 
be too unsafe for use. 


56 


LIFE OF FORREST 


Forrest reached the bridge at dark and put 
his men to work repairing the timbers. All 
through the night and the next morning, the 
troopers labored at fixing the -bridge and in get¬ 
ting across the horses, the artillery, and the long 
train of wagons carrying powder and supplies. 
The general worked beside his men, ax in hand, 
and drove the first wagon across the rickety 
bridge. 

A short distance beyond the Obion, near Mc- 
Lemoresville, Forrest found himself between 
two bodies of Federal troops. The question was 
whether it was better to cross the Tennessee 
without delay or fight the Federal forces, one 
at a time. He decided on the bolder course and 
immediately attacked the enemy, under Colonel 
Dunham, at Parker’s Cross-Roads, on December 
31, 1862. 

In this battle the Southern general used his 
artillery with great skill. Several times the 
Federal line of battle advanced toward his posi¬ 
tion but was driven back by a storm of grape- 
shot. Forrest now sent troops to gain the 
enemy’s rear and demanded their surrender. 
Firing ceased and the Federals were about to 



Copyright, Harper and Brothers. 

FORREST’S ARTILLERY ADVANCING AT PARKER’S CROSS-ROADS 



58 


LIFE OF FORREST 


lay down their arms, when, suddenly, the other 
Federal force came up in the rear of the Con¬ 
federates. 

The Southern scouts, usually so watchful, had 
failed to warn their leader of the approaching 
column until it reached the field; he was caught 
between the two bodies of the enemy, each as 
large as his own command. It was a moment 
of great peril, but Forrest was equal to the need. 
Putting on a bold front to both the Northern 
forces, he drew his men and artillery out of the 
trap, though a number of his dismounted troop¬ 
ers were taken prisoner. 

There was now plainly no time to lose in 
crossing the Tennessee river. This Forrest suc¬ 
ceeded in doing on January 1, 1863. It was a 
feat seldom surpassed in war, for the enemy 
were coming down on him in great numbers and 
he had only two small ferryboats. The cannon 
were first sent across and put in position on the 
opposite shore. Then company after company 
of cavalry unsaddled their horses and piled 
blankets, guns, and other equipment on the 
ferryboats, which were loaded to the water’s 
edge with men. Other troopers built rafts of 


THE RAIDER 


59 


fence rails and logs large enough to hold five 
or ten men. 

No time could be given to ferrying the horses 
over—they had to swim. Two men rowed a 
skiff out from the bank, with a third man hold¬ 
ing the bridle of a horse swimming alongside. 
When the boat had gone a short distance from 
shore, the herd of horses was driven into the 
river. There was nothing for the horses to do 
but swim, and they followed the leader; at one 
time a thousand of the animals were struggling 
in the current. 

In this manner Forrest carried a force of two 
thousand men, with two thousand horses, six 
cannon, his wagon train and captured supplies, 
across £ wide and swift river in the brief space 
of ten hours. Crossing the river on December 
17 and recrossing it two weeks later, he had 
marched three hundred miles through sleet and 
rain over bottomless roads, had fought three 
combats, killed and captured fifteen hundred of 
the enemy and taken large stores of arms and 
provisions. Most important of all, he had torn 
up the railroads in west Tennessee so thoroughly 
that General Grant was cut off from the North 


60 LIFE OF FORREST 

for several weeks. In fact, Grant was much up¬ 
set by this attack on his lines of supply and 
gave up a march he was about to make into Mis¬ 
sissippi; after this he used the Mississippi river 
itself for bringing supplies instead of the rail¬ 
roads, which the raider could tear up at pleasure. 

Forrest had two thousand men when he en¬ 
tered west Tennessee. Five hundred soldiers 
joined him there, and he lost nearly that num¬ 
ber in his marching and fighting—far less than 
the enemy. The Confederate Congress passed 
a vote of thanks to Brigadier-General Forrest 
and his men for their work in this raid. 

General Wheeler, the Confederate cavalry 
commander, wished to keep the Northern steam¬ 
ers from going up and down the Cumberland 
river. In order to do this, it was necessary to 
retake Fort Donelson, the place lost by the Con¬ 
federates a year before. Wheeler decided to 
attack the fort with his cavalry, which included 
Forrest’s brigade. Forrest did not wish to make 
the attack. He thought that the Southern 
troops were too few in number and too poorly 
supplied with powder and balls to capture so 
strong a fort. 



























62 


LIFE OF FORREST 


Wheeler believed that the place could be car¬ 
ried by a quick rush from two sides at once. 
The soldiers were dismounted and placed for the 
attack, Forrest on one side, General Wharton 
on the other. Forrest’s men charged the earth¬ 
works with great bravery, but were driven back 
by a terrible fire of grapeshot from the Federal 
cannon. In a second charge the troopers 
reached some houses close to the fort and then 
stopped, unable to go farther. The Southern 
generals, learning that Northern troops were 
drawing near to aid the garrison, withdrew their 
men from the attack, which thus ended in a 
bloody defeat. 

That night Wheeler, Wharton, and Forrest 
met in a wayside house and talked over the fail¬ 
ure of the day. Wheeler quietly took the blame; 
Forrest, who had lost many of his men, was ex¬ 
cited and angry. 

“General Wheeler,” he said, “I advised against 
this attack and said'all that a subordinate officer 
should have said against it.^ Nothing you can 
now say or do will bring back my brave men 
lying dead or wounded and freezing around that 
fort to-night. I mean no disrespect to you; you 


THE RAIDER 


63 


can have my sword if you wish it; but there is 
one thing I want to put in that report to General 
Bragg—tell him that I will be in my coffin before 
I will fight again under your command.” 

Wheeler kept his temper. “General Forrest, 
he said, “I cannot take your sword, and I greatly 
regret your determination. As the commanding 
officer, I take all the blame for this failure.” 

The scene was a painful one, but it must have 
come sooner or later. Forrest was a leader of 
men, not a follower. It was hard for him who 
knew his own mind so well to go against his judg¬ 
ment at another’s orders. He was always at his 
best when left his own master. He had opposed 
the attack on Fort Donelson, and when it ended, 
as he had expected, in a bloody repulse, his hot 
temper broke forth. Forrest never again served 
under Wheeler. When both officers were with 
the Southern army, one fought on one wing and 
the other on the opposite flank; when Wheeler 
went off on his raids, he left Forrest to go his 
own way. 

Brig' a dier - gen er al: the lowest rank of general; the 
commander of a brigade. 

Wag' on train: a long line of wagons carrying sup¬ 
plies. 


64 LIFE OF FORREST 

Brig' ade : a division of an army composed of two or 
more regiments. 

Gar' ri son: a force of soldiers guarding a fort or city. 

Sen' tin el: a soldier on guard duty. 

Pick' et: a group of cavalry sentinels. 

Stock ade' : a small fort usually made of logs. 

Tres'tle: a railroad bridge. 

Equip'ment: articles used in fitting out a body of 
soldiers. 

Grape' shot: balls about the size of large marbles fired 
from cannon. 

Give an account of the work of Forrest as a raider. 

Tell of his capture of Murfreesborough and its effect; 
also of his escape. 

Describe Forrest’s raid in west Tennessee in Decem¬ 
ber, 1862, and its effect on Grant’s plans. 

Tell how Forrest showed his skill in getting his troops 
across the Tennessee river. 

Give an account of the attack on Fort Donelson and 
Forrest’s part in it. 


CHAPTER FIVE 

THE CAPTURE OF STREIGHT 


Forrest was now for a time in command of the 
cavalry with the left wing of Bragg’s army un¬ 
der General Earl Van Dorn. Van Dorn and 
Forrest won a victory over the Federals at 
Brentwood, Tennessee, killing and capturing 
more than two thousand of them. 

Shortly afterward the two generals quarreled 
when Van Dorn charged that the cavalry had 
not turned in all the arms taken at Brentwood. 
Forrest’s temper led him to utter hot words, but 
Van Dorn apologized and Forrest at once held 
out his hand. “General Van Dorn and I,” he 
said, “have enough to do fighting the enemies of 
our country without fighting each other.” 
Shortly afterward Van Dorn was killed. 

The spring of 1863 found General Bragg in 
southern Tennessee opposing the Federal army, 
now under General Rosecrans. Rosecrans, who 
was an able and active officer, planned to destroy 
the railroads in the rear of Bragg’s army, which 


[65] 


66 


LIFE OF FORREST 


brought supplies from the south, and so force 
the Confederates to retreat into Georgia. He 
chose Colonel Abel Streight to lead the raid. 

Streight’s force of two thousand men was cai- 
ried up the Tennessee river to Eastport, Missis¬ 
sippi, on the Alabama State line. His plan wa^ 
to ride across northern Alabama into Georgia, 
cutting the railroads back of Chattanooga, 
Bragg’s base of supplies. As the roads were bad 
and the country hilly, Streight mounted his men 
on mules in the belief that mules are able to 
stand greater hardships than horses. 

At Eastport, Streight’s troubles began. Gen¬ 
eral Roddey, one of Forrest’s officers, had done 
good service in holding back a force of Federals 
under General Dodge, which was aiding Streight. 
Some of Roddev’s cavalrymen crept up in the 
night to the great corral where two thousand 
mules were herded. The mules, restless and un¬ 
easy, were braying so loudly that they could be 
heard for miles. The Confederates stampeded 
them by yelling and firing guns and pistols. 
Four hundred mules succeeded in getting out of 
the camp and scattered in the woods. Half of 
them were never caught, and Streight had to 


THE CAPTURE OF STREIGHT 


67 


wait in Eastport until he could find more mules. 

The Federal column left Eastport on April 21, 
1863. For several days things went well, though 
the mule cavalry did not press forward very 
rapidly. Forrest was elsewhere, unaware of 
Streight’s move to the rear of Bragg’s army. On 
April 28, he learned that two thousand Federal 
cavalry had passed him moving eastward, and 
he at once set out in pursuit. 

It was in the dead of night that he rode out of 
camp with twelve hundred men on his long chase 
of the Federal raiders. A cold, drizzling rain 
was falling, wetting the soldiers and turning the 
roads into mud. The night was so dark that the 
horses could hardly see to find their way. Hour 
after hour they splashed on through the rain and 
the deepening mire. All the next day Forrest’s 
men rode on without resting, and by midnight on 
April 29 they had drawn near the enemy. They 
knew this by hearing the brays of Streight’s two 
thousand mules. 

Early in the morning of April 30, Forrest at¬ 
tacked the Northern raiders as they were mount¬ 
ing the long slope of Sand Mountain. Streight, 
seeing that he would have to fight, took up a 


68 


LIFE OF FORREST 


strong position. His line of battle ran along the 
crest of a ridge; one wing stretched to the edge 
of a deep ravine, the other was protected by a 
marshy run. The mules were in the rear and 
out of range of the guns. The Federal soldiers, 
where they lay in the bushes, were hidden from 
the Confederates as they moved up the road. 

When Forrest’s men came in sight, the North¬ 
ern troops rose and poured a deadly volley into 
their ranks, checking them. Forrest now came 
up and took command. He dismounted a part 
of his force to form the center of his line, plac¬ 
ing mounted men on both wings. Two cannon 
were brought up and opened fire on the Federals, 
while the Southern line charged forward. 

The Southerners on horseback rode too far 
ahead of the dismounted troops and were torn 
to pieces by the Federal fire. Streight ordered 
a charge. The Confederates were driven back 
down the mountain side, and the two cannon fell 
into the enemy’s hands. 

Forrest was furious at this repulse. He rode 
among his soldiers, angrily ordering them in 
place for another attack. In a few minutes the 
Southern line again surged forward up the 



Copyright, Harper and Brothers. 


BATTLE ON SAND MOUNTAIN 











70 


LIFE ©F FORREST 


mountain, btit only to find the enemy in full re¬ 
treat. Streight had taken advantage of the Con¬ 
federate check to gain a little on them in the 
race. 

The Confederates again came up with the raid¬ 
ers on Hog Mountain, just before nightfall. A 
fierce combat followed. Forrest led his men with 
desperate courage, fighting the Federals hand- 
to-hand. The battle went on in the darkness, 
with no means by which to make out friend or 
foe but the flashes of carbines and pistols. For¬ 
rest had a horse killed under him and two other 
horses wounded. The Northern troopers at last 
gave way and fled from the field, leaving behind 
them the two cannon they had taken from the 
Confederates in the morning. 

By this time Streight had given up all idea of 
destroying railroads and was thinking only of 
escape. He set fire to his wagons, to keep them 
from falling into the hands of the Confederates, 
and hurried onward. At the Black Warrior 
river his force had to fight once more, in order 
to gain a passage of that swift and dangerous 
stream. 

Forrest followed close on his heels. After a 


THE CAPTURE OF STREIGHT 


71 


brief rest at the Black Warrior, the Southern 
leader roused his worn-out men for their fourth 
successive night ride. He came up with the Fed¬ 
eral column again at Black creek. This is a 
crooked, deep, and sluggish stream with steep 
banks. There was only one bridge over the creek 
for miles, and Streight bent every energy to get 
his men across it and destroy it before the Con¬ 
federates could come up. If the bridge were 
burned, he might escape while the Southern cav¬ 
alry tried to find another crossing-place. 

Streight’s men crossed and set fire to the 
bridge just as Forrest, riding at the head of his 
column, came in sight. The Confederates 
charged, but the bridge was a mass of flames 
and plainly past saving. Forrest sat on his horse, 
not knowing what to do. Was Streight about to 
escape after all his efforts to capture the Federal 
raider? It seemed so. 

At this moment Forrest learned through a 
young girl of a ford by which he might be able 
to cross Black creek. The girl was Emma San¬ 
son, sixteen years old, who lived with her mother 
and sister in a house near by. Forrest grasped 
the chance with joy, and the girl took him to the 


72 LIFE OF FORREST 

ford, which was unknown to anyone in his 

command. 

Emma Sanson thus describes the incident: 
“About eight or nine o'clock in the morning, a 



EMMA SANSON 


company of men wearing blue uniforms and rid¬ 
ing mules and horses galloped past the house and 
went on to the bridge. Pretty soon a great crowd 
of them came along, and some of them stopped 



THE CAPTURE OF STREIGHT 73 

at the gate and asked us to bring water. Sister 
and I each took a bucket of water, and gave it 
to them at the gate. One of them asked me 
where my father was. 

“I told him he was dead. He asked me if I 
had any brothers. I told him I had six. He in¬ 
quired where they were, and I said they were in 
the Confederate army. 'Do they think the South 
will whip?’ ‘They do/ I said. ‘What do you 
think about it?’ ‘I think God is on our side and 
we will win/ 

“By this time some of them began to dis¬ 
mount, and we went into the house. They came 
in and searched for firearms and saddles. They 
did not find anything but a side-saddle, and one 
of them cut the skirts off that. Just then some 
one from the road said in a loud tone, ‘You men 
bring a chunk of fire with you, and get out of 
that house/ The men got the fire in the kitchen 
and started out, and an officer put a guard around 
the house, saying, ‘This guard is for your pro¬ 
tection/ 

“They all soon hurried down to the bridge, and 
in a few minutes we saw the smoke rising and 
knew they were burning the bridge. As our 


74 


LIFE OF FORREST 


fence extended up to the railing of the bridge, 
Mother said, ‘Come with me and we will pull the 
rails away, so they will not be destroyed.’ As 
we got to the top of the hill, we saw the rails 
were already piled on the bridge and were on 
fire, and the Yankees were in line on the other 
side guarding it. 

“We turned back toward the house and had 
gone but a few steps when we saw a blue-coat 
coming at full speed, and behind were some more 
men on horses. I heard them shout, 'Halt and 
surrender!’ The man stopped, threw up his 
hand, and handed over his gun. The officer to 
whom the soldier surrendered said, 'Ladies, do 
not be alarmed. I am General Forrest: I and 
my men will protect you from harm.’ He then 
asked, 'Where are the Yankees?’ 

“Mother said, 'They have set the bridge on 
fire and are standing in line on the other side. 
If you go down that hill, they will kill the last 
one of you.’ 

“By this time our men had come up and they 
went out into the fields, and both sides began 
shooting. We ran to the house—I got there 
ahead of all. General Forrest dashed up to the 



Copyright, Harper and Brothers. 

FORREST AND EMMA SANSON 







76 


LIFE OF FORREST 


gate and said to me, 'Can you tell me where I can 
get across that creek ?’ 

"I told him that I knew of a trail about two 
hundred yards above the bridge, where our cows 
used to cross in low water, and that I believed 
that he could get his men over there—if he would 
have a saddle put on a horse, I would show him 
the way. He said, 'There is no time to saddle a 
horse; get up here behind me/ As he said this 
he rode close to the bank on the side of the road, 
and I jumped up behind him. 

"Just as we started off, Mother came up out 
of breath and gasped, ‘Emma, what do you 
mean?' General Forrest said, 'She is going to 
show me a ford where I can get my men over in 
time to catch those Yankees. Don’t be uneasy. 
I will bring her back safe.’ 

"We rode out into a field in which there was 
a thick undergrowth that protected us for a while 
from being seen by the Yankees at the bridge or 
on the other side of the creek. When we got 
close to the creek, I said, 'General Forrest, I 
think we had better get off the horse, as we are 
now where we may be seen.’ 

"We both got down and crept through the 


THE CAPTURE OF STREIGHT 


77 


bushes, and when we reached the ford I hap¬ 
pened to be in front. He stepped quickly between 
me and the enemy, saying, ‘I am glad to have 
you for a pilot, but I am not going to make 
breastworks of you.’ The guns were firing fast 
by this time, as I pointed out to him where to 
go in the water and out on the other bank; then 
we went back towards the house.” 

Because of her good sense and courage on this 
day and the great help she gave Forrest, Emma 
Sanson lives in history as an American heroine 
and her name is held in honor throughout the 
South. 

Forrest lost no time in crossing the creek at 
the ford and pressing on in pursuit. Streight, 
who had hoped to save himself, found the South¬ 
ern horsemen once more at his heels. Many of 
Forrest’s men had fallen out of the ranks be¬ 
cause of broken-down horses, but the Confed¬ 
erates were still advancing; Streight, with twice 
as many troops, was still retreating. 

On May 3, Streight reached Lawrence, where 
he stopped for rest. So tired were his men that 
they sank down in the road and fell asleep. 
Presently Forrest’s cavalry came up with the 





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THE CAPTURE OF STREIGHT 


79 


worn-out raiders. Streight, with great difficulty, 
aroused his men and got them into position. 
They fell asleep again, lying in line of battle and 
under the Confederate fire. Their commander, 
finding that escape was hopeless, surrendered. 

Forrest’s victory caused joy all through the 
South. The Confederate Congress declared that 
its “thanks are due to General N. B. Forrest and 
the officers and men of his command for services 
in the field, and especially for the daring, skill, 
and perseverance shown in the pursuit and cap¬ 
ture of the largely superior forces of the enemy 
near Rome, Georgia.” 

A pol' o gize: to ask pardon for a fault. 

Cor raP: a fenced yard where cattle or horses are kept. 

StanP pede: to terrify, throw into a panic. 

AnPbush: to make an attack when hidden by trees 
or bushes. 

Car' bine: a short gun used by cavalrymen. 

Give an account of Streight’s raid and Forrest’s pur¬ 
suit. 

Tell how Emma Sanson aided Forrest. 

Give the result of the raid. 


CHAPTER SIX 

THE MAJOR-GENERAL 

In May, 1863, Forrest was the victim of a per¬ 
sonal attack. A young officer who thought that 
he had been unjustly treated shot the general 
with a pistol. Forrest was badly wounded, while 
the young man was fatally hurt in the struggle. 
When dying, he sent to ask Forrest’s forgiveness 
for the attack. The general not only forgave 
him but showed great grief over his fate. Hot- 
tempered as Forrest was, he bore no malice for 
wrongs done him. His nature was generous and 
forgiving. 

After recovering from this wound, Forrest 
served with Bragg’s army, guarding its flanks 
and gaining information of Rosecrans’ move¬ 
ments. The Federal general was slowly moving 
forward against Bragg, who stood on the de¬ 
fensive. Bragg gave up Chattanooga, falling 
back to Dalton, Georgia, where he began to draw 
his army together for battle. 

In September, 1863, the wSouthern general ad- 


[80] 


THE MAJOR-GENERAL 81 

vanced suddenly against the Federal army, 
which was much scattered. Three corps, under 
McCook, Crittenden, and Thomas, were widely 
separated from each other, and Bragg moved 
against each in turn. Something went wrong 
every time, however, and the Federals escaped. 
Rosecrans, at last understanding his danger, 
united his army and took a strong position on 
Chickamauga creek not far from Chattanooga. 
Here, on September 18-20, 1863, was fought the 
battle which was probably the fiercest in Amer¬ 
ican history. ' . 

Wheeler commanded the cavalry on Bragg’s 
left wing, and Forrest that on the right. As the 
country was thickly wooded and hilly, the 
Southern cavalry served on foot like infantry. 
On September 19, Forrest led the advance of the 
Confederate right wing. Although greatly out¬ 
numbered by the Federals, who were in force 
in this section of the field, he pushed the enemy 
back for some distance. 

Forrest was ready to renew the battle at dawn 
on September 20, but there was a delay on the 
part of the commanding generals. When the 
attack was at last made, Forrest led the extreme 


82 


LIFE OF FORREST 


right of the Southern line. His well-trained men 
swept around the left wing of the Federal army 
as steadily as if on parade. 

General D. H. Hill, fresh from Lee’s army in 
Virginia, asked an officer, “What infantry is 
that?” “That is Forrest’s cavalry,” was the 



FORREST IH 1863 


reply. Flill showed great surprise at hearing this 
and asked to be brought to Forrest. On meeting 
the cavalry leader, he said, “General Forrest, I 
wish to congratulate you on those brave men 
moving across that field like veteran infantry. 
In Virginia I made myself unpopular with the 
cavalry because I said that so far I had not seen 


THE MAJOR-GENERAL 83 

a dead man with spurs on. No one can speak in 
such terms of your troops/’ 

The attack of the Southerners on the left wing 
of the Federal army under General Thomas 
forced Rosecrans to withdraw troops from other 
points to aid the threatened flank. By so doing 
he left a gap in his line, through which General 
Longstreet presently poured his troops in thou¬ 
sands. Almost in a 'moment the whole Federal 
center and right wing broke and fled in wild dis¬ 
order. Only the left wing, commanded by 
Thomas, remained on the field. At nightfall 
Thomas retreated toward Chattanooga. 

Forrest followed the flying enemy almost to 
that city, hurrying back to urge Bragg to ad¬ 
vance without delay. He found Bragg asleep. 
When awakened and told that his army could 
easily take Chattanooga and the defeated host, 
Bragg replied that he had no supplies and that 
his men could not move without them. 

“General Bragg/’ said Forrest, “we can get all 
the supplies our army needs in Chattanooga.” 

Bragg made no answer, and Forrest sadly rode 
away. Chickamauga, like so many other battles, 
was a fruitless victory for the Confederates. 


84 


LIFE OF FORREST 


A few days later Forrest received an order 
from the commander, telling him to turn over his 
troops to General Wheeler. He flew into a vio¬ 
lent rage and at once sought Bragg. When the 
cavalryman strode into his tent, Bragg held out 
his hand. Forrest, refusing to take it, at once 
poured forth his anger. He charged the com¬ 
manding general with trying to interfere with 
his work and injure him. Bragg arose and left 
the tent without replying. 

Shortly after this, President Jefferson Davis 
paid a visit to the camp. He talked at length 
with the generals, all of whom were dissatisfied 
with Bragg and wished somebody else put in his 
place. Forrest bluntly said that Bragg was unfit 
to command an army, that he had let pass a 
good chance of destroying Rosecrans at Chat¬ 
tanooga. President Davis soothed Forrest by 
telling him that the country knew of his services 
and that he would be sent to west Tennessee and 
Mississippi, away from Bragg. 

Forrest now laid a plan before the President 
which might have led to great results if it had 
been tried. The cavalry leader wished to take 
a strong force of horse and artillery to the Mis- 


THE MAJOR-GENERAL 85 

sissippi river and drive the Federal gunboats and 
freight steamers from that stream. As the Mis¬ 
sissippi was the chief means of carrying sup¬ 
plies to Grant’s army, the army might be forced 
to retreat if traffic on the river were stopped. 

Davis decided against the plan and sent For¬ 
rest into west Tennessee with a small force to 
raid and get fresh soldiers. On December 13, 
1863, Forrest was made a major-general. He 
was soon to show the world that he deserved his 
new rank. 

General Grant, having taken Vicksburg and 
a Confederate army there, planned to send Sher¬ 
man across Mississippi into Alabama to destroy 
the great arsenal and workshops at Selma. The 
movement, if successful, would probably mean 
the conquest of the two States. 

Sherman marched out of Vicksburg, on Feb¬ 
ruary 3, 1864, with an army of twenty thousand 
men, while seven thousand cavalry left Memphis 
to join him at Meridian. This force, under the 
command of General William Sooy Smith, 
reached the Tallahatchie river on February 16. 

So far Smith had met with little opposition, 
for Forrest was not yet on his track. The South- 


86 


LIFE OF FORREST 


ern cavalryman had made a raid into Tennessee 
in December, 1863, passing near Memphis and 
capturing wagon trains, tearing up railroads and 
burning towns. He escaped from west Tennes¬ 
see after doing great harm, bringing with him 
many new soldiers and a considerable number 
of prisoners. 

Forrest turned to meet Smith’s movement as 
soon as the news of it reached him. Flaving only 
a small force with him, he fell back before the 
enemy’s advance. At Okolona the Federal cav- 
. alrv turned due south into the rich prairie lands 
of Mississippi. One object of the expedition was 
to destroy grain, cotton, and houses, and with 
this purpose in view Smith laid waste the coun¬ 
try far and wide. 

Near West Point the Federals met a part of 
Forrest’s force; a hot fight followed. Smith 
had covered more than half the distance be¬ 
tween Memphis and Meridian and would soon 
be in touch with Sherman, who was near the 
latter place. 

He paused, however, when he came to the 
Sakatonchee swamp and found Forrest on the 
other side. The stream was difficult to cross in 


THE MAJOR-GENERAL 87 

the face of the Confederates, and Smith made 
up his mind to retreat. He had begun to grow 
afraid of Forrest. Leaving a part of his force on 
the Sakatonchee, he set out on his return march 
to Memphis. 

A funny story is told of Forrest at Saka¬ 
tonchee swamp. The opposing forces were fight¬ 
ing across the stream. In the midst of the firing, 
a Confederate soldier, dismounted and hatless, 
came running past Forrest, making for the rear. 
The general had little mercy for a coward. 
Jumping from his horse, he seized the fleeing 
man, threw him on the ground, and gave him a (/ 
sound thrashing with a piece of brush. “Now 
go back to the front and fight/’ he said. “You 
might as well be killed there as here, for if you 
ever run away again you won’t get off so easy.” 
The soldier went back to the firing line, a wiser 
if not a braver man. 

As soon as Forrest learned that Smith was re¬ 
treating, he hurried forward in pursuit. The 
fighting was fierce. Forrest, who was a fine 
marksman and good swordsman, fought in the 
front ranks; he killed a Federal trooper who 
fired at him and missed. Smith kept up his re- 


88 


LIFE OF FORREST 


treat until midnight, when he halted near 
Okolona. 

The pursuers gave him little rest. At day¬ 
break of February 22, 1864, the Southerners, 
dismounted and in line of battle, advanced to the 
attack. Their leader, riding among the men, was 
greeted with shouts of welcome. He told them 
that the Federals were beaten and would not 
stand a good charge. 

The lines of battle stretched out in plain view 
of each other across the open prairie; the Con¬ 
federates were far fewer in numbers. At this 
moment Colonel Robert McCulloch and Colonel 
Jeffrey Forrest, the general’s brother, came on 
the field with their troops, and Forrest was able 
to attack the enemy in front and rear. The Fed¬ 
erals, after a brief fight, fled from the field. 

The retreat soon turned into panic. The 
Northern soldiers hurried along the road and 
through the fields on either side of it, paying 
no attention to the commands of their officers, 
who tried in vain to stop the flight. The road 
was choked with the flying mass of men and 
horses and overturned pieces of artillery. 

Seven miles from Okolona, the Federal com- 


THE MAJOR-GENERAL 89 

mander made a stand. He threw up hasty 
breastworks of fence rails on a ridge called Ivey’s 
Hill and planted his cannon so as to fire along 
the narrow road by which the Confederates were 
rapidly approaching. 

When Forrest rode up and saw the Federal 
position on the hilltop, he formed McCulloch’s 
and Jeffrey Forrest’s men in line of battle. 
These rough riders, though only twelve hundred 
in number and worn-out by the pursuit and 
fighting, rushed forward eagerly at the sound of 
the bugle. 

They were met by a terrible fire, which killed 
Jeffrey Forrest and wounded McCulloch. The 
Confederates were checked and came to a halt. 
General Forrest, seeing his brother fall, hastened 
to him, jumped from his horse, and gave way for 
a few moments to his grief. Then he aroused 
himself, kissed Jeffrey on the forehead, and went 
back to his work. Sorrow-stricken though he 
was, he would not let anything interfere with his 
duty. 

Riding to the front, Forrest made a careful 
study of the Federal position, in spite of the 
balls which flew about him. He ordered a part 


90 LIFE OF FORREST 

of his force to mount and ride around to the 
rear of the enemy—the rest to mount and fol¬ 
low him into the fight. At the head of his men, 
he rode up the hill and fiercely attacked the 
Federal line. 

The enemy, giving way, fled wildly along the 
road. Forrest followed at their heels with a 
small number of his best-mounted troops. Some 
distance down the road, General Smith formed 
a line of five hundred men in the attempt to hold 
the pursuers until the rest of his force could 
escape. Forrest dashed among the Federals with 
only a handful of soldiers, and a bloody fight 
occurred. 

One of the Southern officers thus describes the 
combat: “Putting spurs to my horse, I rode 
rapidly to the front, and in about a mile, as I 
rounded a short turn in the road, I came upon 
a scene which made my blood run cold. There 
in the road was General Forrest with his escort 
in a hand-to-hand fight to the death, with Fed¬ 
erals enough, it seemed to me, to have pulled 
them from their horses. Horrified, I turned ba£k 
down the road to see if help was at hand, and, 
as good fortune would have it, the head of Me- 


THE MAJOR-GENERAL 91 

CulloclTs brigade was coming in full sweep to¬ 
ward me.” 

When McCulloch saw his leader struggling in 
the road against overwhelming numbers of the 
enemy, he held his wounded hand, dropping 
blood, high above his head and called on his men 
to charge. The Federals once more broke in 
disorder and fled along the road, pursued by Mc¬ 
Culloch. Forrest had a horse killed under him 
in this fight and he is said to have shot three 
of the enemy. 

The Federals made no further stand. They 
fled back to Memphis, bent only on escaping 
from Forrest and his raiders. Smith at last 
reached Memphis, having lost many of his men 
and having entirely failed in his purpose. His 
failure caused Sherman to give up his movement 
against Selma and return to Vicksburg, after 
laying waste the country around Meridian. 

Sherman wrote thus of Smith’s expedition: “I 
explained to him the nature of Forrest and his 
peculiar force; told him that he was sure to meet 
the man; that Forrest always attacked with ve¬ 
hemence, and that were Forrest repulsed, he 


92 


LIFE OF FORREST 


must assume the offensive and destroy him. 
When Smith started, he let Forrest head him off 
and defeat him with an inferior force near West 
Point, below Okolona.” 

Con grat' u late: to praise. 

Maj' or - gen' er al: an officer next above the rank of 
brigadier-general. 

Ex'pe di'tion: a march made by a force sent for a 
special purpose. 

Ar' se nal: a place where arms are kept and repaired. 

Ve'hemence: great force, violence. 

Give an account of: 

The attempt on Forrest’s life. 

His part in the battle of Chickamauga. 

The plan he laid before President Davis. 

General William Sooy Smith’s raid into Mississippi 
and the result. 

Give incidents that show different sides of Forrest’s 
character. 


CHAPTER SEVEN 

THE STORMING OF FORT PILLOW 


The victory over William Sooy Smith led the 
Confederate government to increase Forrest’s 
force by sending him some cavalrymen without 
horses. On March 15, 1864, Forrest started on 
a raid into west Tennessee. Moving steadily 
westward, he captured a thousand prisoners and 
large quantities of supplies. He then turned to 
attack the Federal garrison at Fort Pillow. 

Forty miles north of Memphis a sand bar 
stretches across the Mississippi from the Arkan¬ 
sas shore nearly over to the Tennessee bank. 
The river channel hugs the eastern side. A small 
stream, called Coal creek, empties into the river 
at this point, and in the angle formed by river 
and creek, on a high clay bluff, stood Fort Pillow. 

The fort consisted of three lines of earth¬ 
works, the inmost of which was the strongest. 
It was an earth wall six feet high and six feet 
thick, with a ditch in front twelve feet wide and 
eight feet deep. Along the inner side of the wall 


[93] 


94 LIFE OF FORREST 

ran a bench on which the garrison could stand 

to fire over it. 

Major Booth was in command of Fort Pillow 
with five hundred and fifty troops, partly 
negroes. On April 4, 1864, Forrest wrote from 
Jackson, Tennessee, to General Polk: “There 
is a Federal force of five or six hundred at Fort 
Pillow which I shall attend to in a day or two. 
They have horses and supplies which we need.” 
Forrest sent General Chalmers ahead of him 
to begin the siege of the fort. Chalmers, after 
an all night march of forty miles, reached Fort 
Pillow and at once attacked the outer line of 
earthworks. These were taken by his troopers 
without trouble; the enemy fell back within the 
second line. 

Chalmers now surrounded the fort, so that 
the Federals could not escape. Colonel Robert 
McCulloch and his men cautiously approached 
the second line of works, using logs, stumps, and 
hillocks as a shelter from the enemy’s guns. 
From behind the trees and stumps the Southern 
marksmen kept up so deadly a fire that Major 
Booth and many other Federals were killed. A 
quick rush of the dismounted horsemen carried 








96 


LIFE OF FORREST 


the second line of earthworks. The enemy were 
driven back behind the last and strongest 
defense. 

When Forrest came on the field, about eleven 
o’clock in the morning of April 12, 1864, his 
first act was to increase the number of sharp¬ 
shooters, who were told to fire at everything 
showing itself above the wall of the fort. While 
he was making a study of the ground, his horse 
was shot and fell on him, bruising him badly. 
Before the day ended, two other horses were 
killed under him. 

The Confederates, continuing to crawl for¬ 
ward from cover to cover like Indians, reached 
a ravine near the inner wall of the fort. Here 
they were safe from the enemy’s fire and close 
enough to the earthwork to make a dash upon 
it. Forrest now felt sure of success and sought 
to avoid further bloodshed by asking the garri¬ 
son to surrender. Raising a white flag, he sent 
his terms of surrender to the Federals. They 
refused to yield. 

Nothing was left but to take the place by 
storm. The Southern soldiers were made ready 
for the attack and told not to pull trigger until 


THE STORMING OF FORT PILLOW 97 

they were inside the work; the sharpshooters 
were ordered to keep up a hot fire and thus pre¬ 
vent the Federals from raising their heads 
above the wall to shoot. 

At the bugle call, twelve hundred gray sol¬ 
diers sprang forward with the “rebel yell, ,, 
crouching low to escape the hail of bullets from 
the earthwork. Many fell; the rest reached the 
ditch and were safe for the time under the very 
wall of the fort. 

The Confederates found the ditch too wide 
to leap, and from its bottom to the top of the 
wall was a sheer climb of fourteen feet. For¬ 
rest's raiders, however, proved equal to the need, 
as they usually did in cases demanding quick 
thought. They began playing a new kind of 
leap-frog. While some of the men stooped over, 
others stepped on their backs and scrambled up 
the slope of the wall; th v en those above reached 
down and pulled their comrades to the top of 
the ditch. In a few minutes the whole Con¬ 
federate line, with guns and pistols ready, stood 
against the outer face of the wall, while the gar¬ 
rison within waited for them to show their heads 
above the shelter. 


98 


LIFE OF FORREST 


There was one long moment of silence—then 
the Confederates sprang to the top of the wall. 
A blast of fire as from a furnace met them, 
striking down many, but the front rank, with¬ 
out faltering, leaped down inside the fort. 

A horrible slaughter followed. The Confed¬ 
erates, pressing their pistols against the bodies 
of the foe in the tight-packed space, shot them 
down in numbers. The Federals, unable to 
stand the fire, broke and fled down to the river. 
Still there was no surrender; the Federal flag 
still floated over the fort, for it seems that the 
troops expected aid from a gunboat near by. 
Some of the garrison threw down their guns and 
became prisoners. Others, wild with fright or 
drink, rushed into the river and drowned or were 
shot by the Confederates who lined the bank. 

Many of the white soldiers saved themselves 
by hiding behind trees or in gullies until the 
end of the battle. A few of the negro soldiers 
kept on firing on Forrest’s troops after the fort 
had been captured at every point, and most of 
these foolhardy men were killed by the enraged 
cavalrymen. 

The scene lasted only a short time. Forrest, 










WM 


pp*r*' 


M 


WEtm- 





















100 


LIFE OF FORREST 


riding up, ordered the firing to cease and at once 
began to look after the wounded. Owing to the 
foolish resistance of a part of the garrison after 
the fort had been stormed and when resistance 
was hopeless, the Federal loss was heavy. For¬ 
rest, on the other hand, had led his men so well 
that only a few of them were killed or wounded. 

The taking of Fort Pillow was a strange feat; 
a cavalry force almost without artillery had 
carried a strong earthwork defended by cannon 
and within a short distance of large bodies of 
Federal troops. But Forrest’s cavalry were 
used to every kind of warfare: they stormed 
forts, captured gunboats, and fought as infantry 
in great battles, besides doing the ordinary work 
of cavalry. 

Forrest has been much blamed for the great 
loss of life at Port Pillow. A committee of the 
United States Congress sought to prove that his 
men killed many of the Federals after they had 
surrendered. This is not the case. The records 
show that Forrest did all in his power to pre¬ 
vent useless bloodshed and that he took good 
care of the wounded and prisoners. The killing 
of the negro troops was chiefly due to their fail- 


THE STORMING OF FORT PILLOW lo. 


ure to surrender when they were surrounded 
and at the mercy of the Southern soldiers. 

Yet it seems a fact that the Confederates were 
in an unusually fierce mood when they stormed 
the fort. It angered them to be opposed by 
negroes, and, besides, a few days before several 
of their comrades had been killed by the Fed- 
erals after surrendering. The battle, therefore, 
was possibly bloodier than it would otherwise 
have been. If so, Forrest was not to blame. 
He was without the fort when the fighting took 
place; the moment he entered it the struggle 
ended, and he showed great kindness to the pris¬ 
oners. He always did this, and many Northern 
soldiers who were captured by him in the war 
have borne witness to the good treatment they 
received at his hands. 

Sharp'shoot ers: marksmen who pick off the enemy 
one by one. 

Feat: a great act or deed. 

Describe: 

Fort Pillow and its lines of earthwork. 

Forrest’s plan to take the fort. 

The Confederate attack. 

Tell of the charge made against Forrest and his men 
in regard to the great loss of life at Fort Pillow and give 
the main reason for this bloodshed. 


CHAPTER EIGHT 


THE VICTORY OF BRICE’S 
CROSS-ROADS 

In the spring of 1864, Joseph E. Johnston was 
at the head of the Southern army in place of 
Bragg, who had been badly beaten by Grant 
at the battle of Missionary Ridge in November, 
1863. Johnston was slowly falling back into 
Georgia before the advance of a great Federal 
army under Sherman. The Confederates were 
worn-out and poorly supplied with food and 
everything else needed in war, while Sherman 
led the finest army on the Northern side in the 
War between the States. 

The Federal general feared Johnston, who 
was a very able soldier, but he was still more 
afraid of Forrest, the raider. A great army 
needs vast quantities of food and other things, 
which are sent to it from some point called the 
base of supplies. Sherman’s supplies were 
brought to him from the North by the railroads 
running from Kentucky through middle Ten¬ 
nessee to Georgia. So long as these railroads 


[102] 


THE VICTORY OF BRICE’S CROSS-ROADS 103 
were in good order, the Federal army could go 
forward into Georgia; but if they were de¬ 
stroyed, Sherman would have to retreat. 

Sherman was afraid that Forrest would get 
in his rear and tear up the railroads that sup¬ 
plied his army. He was so anxious to get the 
Southern raider out of the way that he offered 
high rank to any of his officers who would go 
after Forrest and kill him, or at least keep him 
busy elsewhere. Forrest was raiding again in 
west Tennessee and doing such damage that 
Granc, in Virginia, urged Sherman to send 
troops to drive him back into Mississippi. 

Grant, as well as Sherman, was uneasy lest 
Forrest should turn east into middle Tennessee 
and attack the all-important railways. So Gen¬ 
eral Samuel G. Sturgis was chosen to undertake 
the task of keeping Forrest from Sherman’s 
rear. He was given a force of about eight thou¬ 
sand good troops, part infantry, part cavalry. 

Sturgis’s orders were to tear up the Mobile 
and Ohio railroad to Tupelo and Okolona, Mis¬ 
sissippi, and then return to Memphis. This 
whole section, called the “granary of the 
South/’ was to be utterly destroyed; the grain 


104 


LIFE OF FORREST 


was to be cut down, the cattle were to be driven 
off, and the farmhouses burned. The Federal 
generals knew that Forrest would attack Sturgis 
while he was laying waste the country and 
would thus give Sturgis a good chance to de¬ 
feat him. 

Sturgis, struggling forward through the rain 
and mud of a wet summer season, reached Rip¬ 
ley in northern Mississippi on June 7, 1864. On 
the same day the Federal cavalry fought a com¬ 
bat with a part of Forrest’s force under General 
Rucker. The latter at once sent word to his 
chief of the approach of the Federal column. 
Two nights later Sturgis went into camp near 
Brice’s Cross-Roads, which was a short distance 
from Guntown on the Mobile and Ohio railroad. 
He had something over eight thousand men, 
with twenty-two pieces of artillery. 

Grant’s and Sherman’s fear of Forrest had 
not been without reason. On June 1, General 
Stephen D. Lee, the Confederate commander in 
Mississippi, had sent Forrest east to destroy the 
Nashville and Chattanooga railroad, one of the 
lines supplying Sherman’s army. Forrest rode 
from Tupelo to Russellville, in northern Ala- 


THE VICTORY OF BRICE’S CROSS-ROADS 105 

bama, where a message reached him, on June 
3, ordering him back to oppose Sturgis. He at 
once turned to meet the Federals, overtaking 
them at Brice’s Cross-Roads. 

Forrest’s force numbered 4,800 men, with 
twelve cannon. Several of his brigades were 
worn-out by hard marching from southern Ala¬ 
bama, but all of the troops were eager for battle. 
He had made up his mind to attack Sturgis, 
instead of waiting to be attacked. 

The morning of June 10, 1864, broke hot and 
steaming after a rainy night. The Confederate 
troops were on the move at earliest daylight. 
Forrest, riding up to one of his officers, told him 
that he was about to fight the Federal force at 
the cross-roads. “I know they greatly outnum¬ 
ber the troops I have at hand,” he said, “but the 
road along which they will march is narrow and 
muddy; they will make slow progress. The 
country is densely wooded and the undergrowth 
so heavy that when we strike them they will 
not know how few men we have. Their cavalry 
will move out ahead of the infantry and should 
reach the cross-roads three hours in advance. 
We can whip their cavalry in that time. As 


106 


LIFE OF FORREST 


soon as the fighting begins they will send back 
to have the infantry hurried up. It is going 
to be very hot, and coming on a run for five 
or six miles over such roads, their infantry will 
be so tired that we will ride over them.” 

While the Southern troops were moving to 
the cross-roads in the early morning, the Fed¬ 
erate still kept in camp. Sturgis knew that For¬ 
rest was somewhere ahead and not far away, 
and that a battle must soon occur. At seven 
o’clock, when the Federal infantry began their 
march, it was already sultry and trying to men 
laden with blankets and guns. 

The Federal cavalry, some distance in ad¬ 
vance, drove back the Southern outposts along 
Tishomingo creek and reached Brice’s Cross- 
Roads. At this point the main highway from 
Memphis to Fulton, Mississippi, crossed a road 
from Corinth to Pontotoc; the Mobile and Ohio 
railroad lay only a few miles to the east. With 
the exception of a small cleared space at the 
cross-roads, the country was heavily timbered 
and the undergrowth was so thick that the sol¬ 
diers forced their way through it with difficulty. 

As Forrest had foreseen, the Northern caval- 































108 


LIFE OF FORREST 


ry reached the cross-roads while the infantry 
was still some miles behind, crawling toward 
the battlefield. The Southern leader had formed 
his plan of battle to take advantage of this fact; 
he hoped to defeat the Federal cavalry before 
the infantry came up and then to beat the latter 
in turn. He had been able to bring up only a 
part of his troops and he was outnumbered both 
by the Northern cavalry and foot. Neverthe¬ 
less, he moved forward to attack without wait¬ 
ing for the rest of his force. He always liked 
to attack, saying that he would “give more for 
fifteen minutes of bulge on the enemy than for 
a week of tactics.” 

Forrest made his men dismount, for horses 
were useless in the dense thickets of black-jack 
and scrub-oak. The Seventh Tennessee regi¬ 
ment, Chalmers’ Mississippi brigade, and W. A. 
Johnson’s Alabamians formed the line of battle. 
At eleven o’clock in the morning of an intensely 
hot and breathless day, Forrest rode among his 
troops, telling them that every man must go for¬ 
ward to the charge the instant they heard the 
bugle call. 

At the sound of the bugle the whole line 


THE VICTORY OF BRICE’S CROSS-ROADS 109 

sprang forward, careless of the enemy’s fire. 
Rucker, at the head of the gallant Tennes¬ 
seeans, reached the Federals first, where they 
knelt behind a fence. One of the fiercest and 
bloodiest fights of the whole war followed. 
Guns once fired could not be reloaded and were 
wielded as clubs; pistols and swords were the 
weapons chiefly used. The two lines of blue 
and gray swayed back and forth through the 
thickets, shooting and cutting and hitting—re¬ 
fusing to give way. 

But in this hand-to-hand fight the revolvers 
in the hands of Rucker’s men were more than 
a match for the carbines and sabers of the 
Northern cavalry. The Federal line broke in 
the center, while the Alabamians and Mississip- 
pians, bravely charging on the sides, swept the 
enemy from the field. Rucker, who had ridden 
and fought his way through the Northern line to 
the other side, was wounded. Sturgis’s cavalry 
had been completely defeated and were flying 
in disorder. 

Forrest had carried out the first part of his 
plan; he now had to fight the Federal infantry. 
They were coming up as fast as they could move 



110 LIFE OF FORREST 

along the heavy roads in the intense heat of the 
June day. The men were worn-out by running 
and many of them sank down overcome by heat 
and fatigue; the rest were in poor condition 
for battle. 

But Forrest had no idea of giving them time 
to rest; he was making ready for the final effort 
that would win the day. He rode among his 
soldiers, forming the line for the charge. 

The firing had died out on both sides and a 
tense silence fell on the scrub forest where the 
battle had raged a little while before. The air 
was heavy with moisture; not a cloud showed 
in the blue sky to shield friend or foe from the 
burning sun. Forrest’s soldiers were tired from 
the first fight, but they were less tired than the 
Federal infantry after their forced march. 

Tyree H. Bell’s brigade had just joined For¬ 
rest, and the fresh troops were sent to lead the 
attack. Both the Federal and Southern lines 
of battle were lying flat on the ground to hide 
their positions as well as to protect themselves. 
Bell’s Tennesseeans now moved slowly forward, 
with guns trailing and bodies bent close to the 
earth. The rustling of the leaves gave warn- 



Copyright, Harper and Brothers. 

BATTLE OF BRICE’S CROSS-ROADS 


Plsllili 











112 


LIFE OF FORREST 


ing of their approach, and before they reached 
the Federal line the bushes burst into flame and 
smoke as the enemy fired in their very faces. 

The fire was so deadly that Bell’s men fal¬ 
tered a moment. Forrest, who was just behind 
them, seeing them waver, leaped from his horse 
and rushed into the very thickest of the fight, 
pistol in hand. With their great leader to cheer 
them on, the Confederates drove back the enemy 
at this point. 

But at another place in the thin line, where 
Rucker was in command, the Federals made a 
fierce charge. As the blue infantry came on 
with fixed bayonets, Rucker shouted to his fol¬ 
lowers, “Kneel on the ground, men, and draw 
your six-shooters.” Against this living wall, the 
Federal line struck and rebounded. The North¬ 
ern soldiers could not break through, and in a 
hand-to-hand fight the bayonet proved unequal 
to the revolver. 

At this moment the Second Tennessee regi¬ 
ment, under Colonel Barteau, came up behind 
Sturgis’s line. It was now past four o’clock, and 
Forrest made up his mind to end the battle. He 
had sent Barteau to get in the enemy’s rear; 


THE VICTORY OF BRICE’S CROSS-ROADS 113 

now that Barteau was in position, the time had 
come for the final effort. When the bugle 
sounded again, the whole Confederate line 
sprang forward as one man toward the Federals, 
while Barteau attacked them behind. The ene¬ 
my fired, faltered, then broke in utter rout. 
Almost in a moment Sturgis’s army turned into 
a mob, bent only on escape. 

It was necessary for the beaten troops tq 
cross a bridge over Tishomingo creek a short 
distance from the battlefield. This bridge be¬ 
came blocked by the overturning of a wagon. 
When the fleeing soldiers found the wagon in 
their way, they tried to climb over it, or ran 
along the banks of the stream seeking a ford. 
Some of them leaped into the creek and swam 
across or drowned. Many of the Federals were 
killed or captured at the bridge; the rest escaped 
somehow and kept up their flight toward Mem¬ 
phis. Sturgis finally reached that city, having 
lost three thousand men, two hundred and fifty 
wagons, eighteen cannon, and large quantities 
of supplies. 

No more splendid victory was won in the 
whole war than the battle of Brice’s Cross- 


114 


LIFE OF FORREST 


Roads. But for the fact that it was fought be¬ 
tween small armies at a time when the atten¬ 
tion of the world was drawn to the movements 
of Lee and Grant in Virginia and Sherman and 
Johnston in Georgia, Forrest would have gained 
great fame. As it was, the Confederate govern¬ 
ment failed to realize the success he had won 
over a force twice his own in size. 

The overthrow of Sturgis caused anxiety to 
Grant and Sherman and the government at 
Washington. Sherman called loudly for aid to 
keep Forrest from attacking his supply rail¬ 
roads. He wrote to Secretary of War Stanton: 
“I cannot believe but that Sturgis had troops 
enough. I know I would have been willing to 
try the same task with that force; but Forrest 
is the devil, and I think he has got some of our 
troops under cower. I have two officers at 
Memphis who will fight all the time—A. J. 
Smith and Mower. I will order them to make 
up a force and follow Forrest to the death, if 
it costs ten thousand lives and breaks the treas¬ 
ury. There never will be peace in Tennessee 
until Forrest is dead.” 

Grant wrote in his Memoirs: “Farther west, 


THE VICTORY OF BRICE’S CROSS-ROADS 115 

also, the troubles were threatening. Some time 
before Forrest had met Sturgis, in command of 
some cavalry in Mississippi, and handled him 
very roughly, gaining a great victory over him. 
This left Forrest to go almost anywhere he 
pleased, and to cut the roads in rear of Sher¬ 
man, who was then advancing.” 

The Federal generals had learned to fear For¬ 
rest as the chief hindrance to their movement 
into Georgia, while the Confederate govern¬ 
ment was still ignorant of his genius. 

Tac' tics: methods of handling an army in battle. 

Revol'ver: a pistol which shoots six or seven times 
without reloading. 

Sa' ber: a curved sword carried by cavalrymen. 

Gen' ius (jen' yus) : great ability. 

Tell why Sherman feared Forrest and give his plan to 
keep the raider occupied. 

Give an account of Sturgis’s raid. 

Describe: 

Forrest’s plan of battle at Brice’s cross-roads. 

The first battle. 

The second battle. 




CHAPTER NINE 

THE DEFENSE OF MISSISSIPPI 

While Forrest was pursuing Sturgis and 
fighting the battle of Brice’s Cross-Roads, Gen¬ 
eral Johnston had been slowly falling back 
through the mountains of Georgia before Sher¬ 
man’s advance. He urged upon President Davis 
the need of striking the railways in the rear of 
the Federal army, asking that “a force under 
the most competent officer in America for such 
service, General N. B. Forrest, be sent against 
Sherman’s lines of supply.” 

Governor Joseph Brown of Georgia also de¬ 
sired that Forrest be put in command of all the 
cavalry for the purpose of helping Johnston. 
President Davis refused. Brown wrote to the 
President in reply: “I regret that you cannot 
grant my request. I am satisfied that Sher¬ 
man’s escape with his army would be impossible 
if ten thousand good cavalry under Forrest 
were thrown in his rear this side of Chattanooga 
[ 116 ] 


THE DEFENSE OF MISSISSIPPI 


117 


and his supplies cut off. The whole country ex¬ 
pects this, although points of less importance 
should be for a time overrun in the destruc¬ 
tion of Sherman's supplies. Destroy them, and 
Atlanta is not only safe, but the destruction of 
the army under Sherman opens Kentucky and 
Tennessee to us." 

The Confederate government, however, kept 
Forrest in Mississippi, where he was indeed of 
great service. But fighting with a small force 
in defense of a single State, he could not do as 
much as he might have done if he had been 
given a large body of horsemen and sent to 
destroy the railroads in Tennessee, so necessary 
for the safety of Sherman's host. 

Sherman still feared that Forrest would at¬ 
tack him and planned to keep the raider busy 
in Mississippi. He telegraphed to General Mc¬ 
Pherson, on June 16, 1864: “I wish to organize 
as large a force as possible at Memphis, with 
A. J. Smith or Mower in command, to pursue 
Forrest, destroying the country over which he 
has passed, or may pass, and make the people 
of Tennessee and Mississippi feel that he will 
bring ruin on any country where he may pass 


118 


LIFE OF FORREST 


or tarry. If we do not punish Forrest and the 
people now, the whole effect of our vast con¬ 
quest will be lost.” 

General A. J. Smith and Mower set out from 
Memphis with 11,500 men. The two generals 
were among the best officers in the Federal 
army and their troops were picked soldiers. It 
was their aim to lay waste the rich prairie coun¬ 
try around Okolona and force Forrest to give 
battle. 

The Federal column reached Pontotoc, Mis¬ 
sissippi, on July 11, 1864, without meeting much 
resistance. Near this place, however, fighting 
began; the Confederate cavalry attacked Smith’s 
forces. 

Forrest reached the field the next day, July 
12; with him came General Stephen D. Lee, the 
Confederate commander. As he advanced, the 
Federals fell back through Pontotoc, seeking a 
good position to make a stand and fight a battle. 
All that day and until nine o’clock at night For¬ 
rest’s men drove the enemy before them, and 
captured a wagon train. At a point near Harris¬ 
burg, General Smith halted and prepared to 
fight. 


THE DEFENSE OF MISSISSIPPI 119 

The position was a strong one. The Federal 
line of battle ran along the crest of a low ridge, 
which was in the center of a large open space. 
The ground sloped from this summit to a small 
valley, beyond which the country was broken 
and wooded. In order to attack the Federals, 
the Confederates had to mount the low hill and 
advance across the open field under the full fire 
of the enemy’s cannon, posted on the ridge. 
Smith threw up breastworks in the night, so 
that his men would be sheltered from the South¬ 
ern fire. 

In the evening of July 13, Forrest had a very 
narrow escape from capture. Riding through 
the woods, with a single aid, to study the ene¬ 
my’s position, he suddenly came in the darkness 
among the wagons of Smith’s army. Forrest 
started back toward his own lines but had not 
gone far before he was stopped by two sentinels. 
In this moment of danger his coolness did not 
desert him. 

“What do you mean by halting your com¬ 
manding officer?” he angrily asked, passing on 
by the sentries. They did not find out the trick 
until the two horsemen had gone some distance. 


120 LIFE OF FORREST 

The sentinels then fired, but Forrest and his 
companion escaped unhurt. 

Generals Lee and Forrest viewed the strong 
position of the Federals near Harrisburg at day¬ 
light on July 14, 1864. Forrest doubted the wis¬ 
dom of attacking; he wished to fight Smith on 
more equal terms. Lee, however, said that the 
battle must be fought at once, that other col¬ 
umns of Federals were moving into Mississippi 
at several points and would have to be met with¬ 
out delay. Forrest then agreed to fight, though 
against his judgment. Lee offered him the com¬ 
mand of the army, but Forrest would not take 
it. The Confederates made ready for battle. 

It was an intensely hot midsummer day. For 
weeks so little rain had fallen that the earth 
was parched and cracked and the brooks had 
run dry; the roads were deep in dust. The sol¬ 
diers of both armies had difficulty in finding 
water to drink. 

The Southern army numbered 9,500 men. 
Forrest was in command of the right wing, 
General Buford of the left, while Lee took his 
place in the center. 

Lee’s plans went badly from the beginning. 


THE DEFENSE OF MISSISSIPPI 121 

The Confederates, instead of attacking to¬ 
gether, charged in small bodies at different 
points. Buford, on the left, was sent against 
the enemy before Forrest had time to advance 
on the right. 

A Kentucky brigade under Colonel Crossland 
rushed ahead of Buford’s line, as it. moved for¬ 
ward, and threw itself on the Northern earth¬ 
works. No braver charge was made in the 
whole war. The Kentuckians advanced for five 
hundred yards across an open field without 
cover, swept by two batteries of artillery firing 
grapeshot. They were struck down in numbers, 
but they did not falter. When they drew close 
to the earthworks, four thousand Federal in¬ 
fantry rose and poured a volley into them. 
Nearly all of the gallant Kentuckians were killed 
or wounded; the rest escaped to the woods. 

In an effort to save Crossland’s men, Buford 
hastened his attack on the right of the Federal 
line. Bell’s Tennesseeans were a little behind 
Mabry’s Mississippi brigade, which charged 
without waiting for them. The Mississippians 
fought with desperate courage, but suffered al¬ 
most as much as Crossland’s brigade; more than 


122 


LIFE OF FORREST 


a third of them fell in the space of a few min¬ 
utes. Bell now came to their help, but found 
that he could not take the earthworks. 

In the meanwhile, Forrest had ridden to the 
right of the Southern line, and his troops were 
pressing forward. They had not come up, how¬ 
ever, when Crossland made his charge; and by 
the time they got in touch with the other at¬ 
tacking forces, the left wing of the army had 
been torn to pieces. Forrest, therefore, did not 
make an attack which he knew had no chance 
of success. He sought Lee, and the two gen¬ 
erals decided to bring the battle to an end. 

Forrest, throwing up breastworks in the 
woods, waited for the enemy to advance. 
Smith, however, had no idea of attacking, as his 
men were worn-out with heat and fighting. 
After burning the town of Harrisburg, he set 
out on his return to Memphis. 

Forrest pressed forward in pursuit, and the 
fighting was fierce. Several of the Southern 
leaders were shot down, and Forrest himself 
was wounded in the right foot. A report spread 
among the soldiers that he had been killed, al¬ 
most throwing them into a panic. The general, 


THE DEFENSE OF MISSISSIPPI 123 

in order to show his brave men that he was 
alive, mounted a horse and rode along the line. 
The troops were wild with joy at seeing their 
beloved leader still among them. 

This wound proved to be the most painful of 
the many that Forrest suffered in the war. The 
ball passed through the foot near the base 
of the great toe and came out in the sole. As 
the hurt kept him from riding on horseback, 
he drove in a light buggy, in which a rest was 
fixed for the wounded foot. It was a strange 
sight to see a general driving along in a buggy 
at the head of a column of horsemen, dodging 
the stumps in the road or anything else that 
might jolt his foot. 

Forrest was planning to attack Sherman’s 
railroads, but the Federal generals had made up 
their minds to keep him busy by sending raid¬ 
ing columns into Mississippi. Although Smith 
claimed that he had won a great victory over 
the Southern cavalryman, Sherman was not 
satisfied. He telegraphed to one of his officers: 
"Order Smith to keep after Forrest all the time. 
I think a few more days will bring matters to a 
crisis. Johnston is relieved and Hood succeeds 


124 LIFE OF FORREST 

to the command.” To General Halleck he sent 
word: “A. J. Smith has orders to hang on to 
Forrest and keep him from coming to Ten¬ 
nessee.” 

Early in August, General Smith set out a sec¬ 
ond time after Forrest. On this occasion he led 
a good-sized army of twenty thousand men. 
Moving his cavalry by road and his infantry by 
railway, Smith reached the Tallahatchie river 
between Holly Springs and Oxford on August 
9, 1864. He was following the Mississippi Cen¬ 
tral railroad into the most productive part of 
the State. 

As soon as Forrest heard from General Chal¬ 
mers of Smith’s movement, he started toward 
Oxford. His horsemen bravely opposed the 
Federal advance but were too few in number to 
make a stand and fight a battle. If they had 
done so, they would have been overwhelmed by 
the masses of the enemy. It was in the face of 
such danger, however, that Forrest best showed 
his genius for war. 

Since he could not fight Smith, he must find 
another way of making him retreat and thereby 
save Mississippi from ruin. He decided to 




















126 LIFE OF FORREST 

strike a bold blow at the Federals somewhere 
else—a blow which would force them to give 
up their raid. 

Picking out two thousand of his best men, 
Forrest left Oxford in the night of August 18, 
riding northward. He hurried onward, in spite 
of bad roads and swollen rivers. When the 
column reached Hickahala creek near Sena- 
tobia, it found the stream bridgeless and too 
high to be forded. 

There was no time to lose; the success of For¬ 
rest’s plan depended on his swiftness. Most gen¬ 
erals would have had to wait for some kind of a 
bridge to be built. Not so Forrest; his quick 
brain soon found a way of crossing. Several 
tall trees on the creek bank were cut down so 
that they fell across the stream; these were 
bound together with grapevines for lack of rope. 
The novel bridge was then anchored to the 
stumps on the bank. Meanwhile all the houses 
along the Hickahala had been stripped of planks 
to make a flooring for the bridge. Within an 
hour of Forrest’s arrival at the creek, the troops 
had crossed and were riding on their way. 

A similar bridge was thrown over the Cold- 


THE DEFENSE OF MISSISSIPPI 


127 


water, a much wider stream, which was crossed 
in three hours. In spite of all hindrances, For¬ 
rest’s troopers made such rapid progress that 
early in the morning of August 21, 1864, they 
rode into the outskirts of Memphis. The hard, 
swift march had broken down five hundred 
horses on the way, leaving only fifteen hundred 
soldiers in the column. 

Memphis was too well-garrisoned by Federal 
troops to be captured, but Forrest had decided 
on a very daring feat. This was to make pris¬ 
oners of three Northern generals of rank then 
in the city. Forrest thought that this bold 
stroke would spread terror among the enemy 
and force Smith to turn back from Mississippi 
for the defense of the Federal garrisons in Ten¬ 
nessee. 

Parties of soldiers were sent to take the Fed¬ 
eral generals in their beds. The Southern 
cavalrymen rode straight into the town, shoot¬ 
ing down or capturing such Northern soldiers 
as opposed them; the greater part of the gar¬ 
rison was still in bed. All three of the generals 
escaped, one of them fleeing from his room in 
his night clothes. 


128 


LIFE OF FORREST 


By this time the Federals were awake and 
came pouring into the streets in great num¬ 
bers; there was danger that the small Southern 
force would be surrounded and captured. For¬ 
rest, therefore, withdrew, followed by the ene¬ 
my’s cavalry. Just outside of Memphis a skir¬ 
mish occurred, in which Forrest shot Colonel 
Starr, the leader of the Federal horsemen. He 
reported that he killed or wounded four hundred 
of the enemy in this attack on Memphis, besides 
taking three hundred horses and a number of 
prisoners. 

The raid was successful. Smith hastened 
back to defend Memphis, giving up the expedi¬ 
tion into Mississippi. General Maury, who was 
in command of the Confederates in Alabama, 
wrote Forrest: “You have saved Mississippi. 
Come and help Mobile.” One of the Federal 
officers wrote a few days after the raid: “On 
the 23d of August the whole town was stam¬ 
peded at about ten o’clock in the morning by a 
report that Forrest had returned in force and 
was again in town. It was the most disgrace¬ 
ful affair I have ever seen, and proves that there 
is want of confidence by the people in our army 


THE DEFENSE OF MISSISSIPPI 129 

and by our army in some of its officers. Forrest 
was probably thirty miles distant.” 

Forrest won his victories as much by think¬ 
ing as by fighting. 

Cri' sis: a turning-point. 

Tar' ry: to remain for a short time. 

Tell of the plans that General Johnston and Governor 
Brown laid before President Davis, and give Davis’s 
decision. 

Describe A. J. Smith’s first raid into Mississippi and 
the battle of Harrisburg. 

Describe Smith’s second raid and Forrest’s plan of 
defeating it. Give the result. 


CHAPTER TEN 

THE LAST GREAT RAID 

At last, when too late, President Davis saw 
the advantage of destroying the railroads in 
middle Tennessee and cutting off Sherman from 
the North. By this time Sherman had marched 
so far into Georgia that he no longer needed 
supplies from the North; he was able to get food 
for his men from the crops in the barns and 
fields. The railroads, although still very useful, 
were not necessary to him. 

General John B. Hood had replaced General 
Johnston in command of the Southern army in 
Georgia, while General Richard Taylor was at 
the head of the troops in Alabama and Missis¬ 
sippi. * Forrest had urged President Davis to 
give him leave to cut the Tennessee railroads; 
Davis left the matter to General Taylor, who 
met Forrest at Meridian, Mississippi. 

Taylor thus describes the cavalryman: “He 
was a tall, stalwart man, with grayish hair, a 
mild face, and slow and homely in speech. He 
was told that I thought Mobile safe for the 


[130] 


THE LAST GREAT RAID 


131 


present, and that all our energies must be turned 
to the relief of Hood’s army, then west of At¬ 
lanta. The only way to do this was to worry 
Sherman’s lines of supply north of the Tennes¬ 
see river, and he must move his cavalry that 
way. 

“To my surprise, Forrest asked many ques¬ 
tions: how he was to get over the Tennessee; 
how he was to get back if pressed by the enemy; 
how he was to be supplied; what should be his 
line of retreat; what he was to do with pris¬ 
oners. I began to think he had no stomach for 
the work; but at last, having separated the 
chances of success from the causes of failure 
with the care of a chemist in a laboratory, he 
rose and asked for Fleming, the manager of the 
railway. Fleming appeared—a little man on 
crutches, but with the energy of a giant—and 
at once stated what he could do in the way of 
moving supplies on his line. Forrest’s whole 
manner now changed. In a dozen sharp sen¬ 
tences he told his wants, said he would leave an 
officer to bring up his supplies, asked for an 
engine to take him north to meet his troops, 
told me that he would march with the dawn and 


132 


LIFE OF FORREST 


hoped to give an account of himself in Ten¬ 
nessee/’ 

On September 21, 1864, Forrest started out 
on his last great raid. The artillery and wagons 
were ferried across the Tennessee river at New¬ 
port; Forrest himself, with his horsemen, forded 
the river at Colbert’s shoals, where it is about a 
mile wide. So swiftly did he march that in one 
day he crossed the broad stream and advanced 
twenty-five miles on his way. Near Florence, 
the column was joined by Colonel William A. 
Johnson with his brigade of Alabamians, bring¬ 
ing Forrest’s force to 4,500 men. 

Moving on the village of Athens, Alabama, 
Forrest surrounded it with his troops and drove 
the Federals into a fort they had built there. 
Then he opened fire with his cannon on the fort 
and demanded its surrender; he offered to let 
two Federal officers see the size of his force. 

The enemy sent out the officers, who were 
taken along the Confederate line. After they 
had passed a number of dismounted troops, these 
troops were told to mount and ride around out 

V/ 

of sight to the other end of the line. When the 
two Federals came on them again, they were 


MIDDLE AND WEST TENNESSEE 














134 


LIFE OF FORREST 


sitting their horses at some distance from their 
first position, and so they were counted twice. 
The officers went back to the fort, thinking that 
Forrest had ten thousand men. 

The fort surrendered. Thirteen hundred 
troops, fifty wagons, five hundred horses and 
two long trains loaded with supplies fell into 
Forrest’s hands. His own loss was very slight. 

From Athens, the raider turned to attack a 
stockade defending the Sulphur Springs trestle 
on the Alabama and Tennessee railroad. For¬ 
rest’s quick eye soon saw a ridge which over¬ 
looked the stockade. Posting his cannon here, 
he opened a hot fire on the Federal fort. His 
horsemen, by a swift dash, reached a sheltered 
point near the stockade, from which they picked 
off any Federals who showed their heads over 
the wall. In a short time the enemy laid down 
their arms. Forrest took one thousand pris¬ 
oners, three hundred horses, and a large amount 
of supplies. The bridge, a hundred yards long, 
was burned. 

Forrest’s raid had begun to disturb Grant at 
Richmond, who telegraphed to Sherman: “It 
will be better to drive Forrest from middle Ten- 


THE LAST GREAT RAID 


135 


nessee as a first step, and do anything else you 
may feel your force sufficient for.” Sherman re¬ 
plied: ‘‘Our armies are much reduced, and if I 
send back more men I will not be able to 
threaten Georgia much. There are men enough 
to the rear to whip Forrest, but they are scat¬ 
tered to defend the road. Can’t you hurry the 
sending to Nashville of the new troops in In¬ 
diana and Ohio? They could occupy the forts. 
Forrest is now lieutenant-general and com¬ 
mands all the enemy’s cavalry.” 

Meanwhile Forrest pushed steadily north¬ 
ward, tearing up rails, burning bridges, and 
cutting telegraph wires. Near Elkton he cap¬ 
tured two thousand runaway slaves and large 
supplies of food and medicines. The hungry 
Confederates feasted on dainties, washed down 
by unlimited quantities of coffee. 

Just outside of Pulaski, Forrest found a Fed¬ 
eral force awaiting him. The Confederates at 
once attacked and drove the enemy back for 
some distance, until they rallied and made a 
stand. The Federals attempted to outflank the 
left of the Confederate line, but Forrest de¬ 
feated this effort with his artillery, which 


136 


LIFE OF FORREST 


poured a deadly fire on the advancing Northern¬ 
ers. They then fell back within the breastworks 
at Pulaski. 

After making a careful study of the enemy’s 
earthworks, Forrest decided that they were too 
strong to attack. At nightfall he had fires 
lighted, in order to make the Federals think that 
he was camping there and would renew the fight 
at daylight. Then, sending a force to destroy 
the railroad between Pulaski and Columbia, 
Forrest rode away through the darkness with 
his men. 

On September 29, the Confederate column 
was nearing Tullahoma, when scouts met it with 
the news that a large force of the enemy held 
that town and that numbers of Federal troops 
were coming by train from Chattanooga and 
Nashville. In fact, more than thirty thousand 
men were closing in on Forrest, in the hope of 
capturing the bold raider. 

On September 28, Sherman telegraphed to 
Grant: “I send back General Thomas to look 
to Tennessee and have ordered a brigade of the 
Army of the Tennessee up from Eastport, and 
the cavalry across to that place from Memphis; 


THE LAST GREAT RAID 137 

they are to act against the flanks of any force 
going into Tennessee by way of the fords near 
Florence. Forrest has got into middle Tennes¬ 
see, and will, I feel certain, get on my main road 
to-night or to-morrow.” At the same time he 
sent an order to one of his generals: “I want 
you to recall General Burbridge and bring to¬ 
gether all the troops possible to push Forrest. 
I send General Thomas up to Stevenson to work 
from that direction. I can hold Atlanta and my 
lines of supply back to Chattanooga.” 

The next day Sherman telegraphed to Gen¬ 
eral Halleck: “I take it for granted that For¬ 
rest will cut our roads, but I think we can keep 
him from making a serious lodgment. His 
cavalry will travel one hundred miles in less 
time than ours will ten. ... I can whip the 
enemy’s infantry, but his cavalry is to be 
feared.” On the same day the Secretary of 
War sent word to the Governor of Michigan: 
‘There is urgent need that every soldier be hur¬ 
ried forward to Nashville, to guard General 
Sherman’s lines of supply without an hour’s 
delay.” 

Forrest had now turned southward, to avoid 


138 


LIFE OF FORREST 


the heavy columns of Federal troops moving 
from all sides to overwhelm him. He had given 
up the idea of destroying the Nashville and 
Chattanooga railroad, but he sent General Bu¬ 
ford to tear up the Memphis and Charleston 
railroad from Huntsville to Decatur. 

On his way back to the Tennessee river he 
destroyed several small forts and railway 
bridges. One of these bridges was defended by 
a stockade too strong to be taken without can¬ 
non, and Forrest had sent his artillery with Bu¬ 
ford. He posted sharpshooters to fire on the 
fort, while some of his brave cavalrymen crept 
along the bank of the stream with bundles of 
dry wood and burned the bridge. 

On October 5, 1864, Forrest reached Flor¬ 
ence, where he found the Tennessee river so 
swollen by rains as to be unfordable. There 
were only three ferry-boats, which were kept 
busy day and night carrying men, arms, sup¬ 
plies, and the weaker horses across the broad 
river. A column of Federal cavalry rode into 
Florence while more than a thousand of For¬ 
rest’s men were still on the north side of the 
Tennessee a few miles below the town. The 






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140 


LIFE OF FORREST 


danger was great, but Forrest’s brain was never 
clearer than in this situation. 

There is a wooded island near the north bank 
of the Tennessee river a short distance below 
Florence. Forrest had the men and supplies 
ferried across the stream that separated the 
north side of the river from this island; the 
horses were made to swim. Within an hour’s 
time, a thousand men and a thousand horses 
were safely hidden among the trees and bushes 
on the island. The Federals, lining the north 
bank of the river, could see nothing through the 
dense growth on the island; in the meantime 
the Confederate cavalry were being ferried over 
the wide stretch of river lying between the 
southern side of the island and the south shore 
of the Tennessee. All crossed in safety. 

Forrest worked side by side with his men, 
as was his custom; he never asked them to per¬ 
form any labor or go into any danger that he 
did not share. He left the island with the last 
boat-load of soldiers. 

A young officer was standing in the boat, tak¬ 
ing no part in rowing it. Forrest said to him, 
“Why don’t you take hold of an oar or pole 


THE LAST GREAT RAID 


141 


and help get the boat across ?” The officer re¬ 
plied that he did not think that he was called 
on to do that kind of work as long as there were 
privates enough for it. Forrest, who was work¬ 
ing with a pole at the time, lost his temper and 
gave the young officer a slap that knocked him 
out of the boat into the river. When the man 
was pulled aboard, dripping and gasping, the 
general said, “Now get hold of the oars and go 
to work. If I knock you out of the boat again, 
I’ll let you drown.” Forrest believed that every 
man, officer or private, should be glad to work 
with hand and brain for the Southern cause. 

The raid into northern Alabama and middle 
Tennessee proved most fruitful. Forrest had 
killed or wounded a thousand men, had taken 
two thousand prisoners, had captured hundred: 
of horses, a number of cannon and vast quanti¬ 
ties of stores. He had also done great damage 
to the railroads. If he had been sent on the 
raid a few months earlier with a larger force, 
Sherman’s advance to Atlanta would have been 
checked and might have been stopped alto¬ 
gether. 

The Confederacy, however, was now failing 


142 


LIFE OF FORREST 


fast. Hood had given battle to Sherman at At¬ 
lanta and had been beaten with great loss. No 
longer able to oppose Sherman’s march through 
Georgia, he planned to strike north into Ten¬ 
nessee in the hope that Sherman would follow 
him. Hood, therefore, made for the Tennessee 
river at Florence, where he intended to cross. 
The Federal troops all over the State were 
drawn together at Nashville, in order to defend 
middle Tennessee. This gave Forrest a good 
chance to raid west Tennessee for supplies. 

The raider reached the Tennessee river again 
in the last days of October. Planting his can¬ 
non on the bank at two points some distance 
apart, he prepared to attack the gunboats and 
freight steamers that plied busily up and down 
the great stream. 

A steamboat would be allowed to pass the first 
battery unharmed, only to be fired on and 
stopped by the second battery; when the vessel 
turned and started back down the river, the first 
battery would open fire on it. The steamer, 
thus caught between the two batteries, could not 
escape. 

The cannon had been in position but a short 





THE LAST GREAT RAID 


143 


time when a large steamer, the Mazeppa, came 
up the river. The Mazeppa was struck by sev¬ 
eral balls and was run ashore on the opposite 
side of the river from Forrest’s force and de¬ 
serted by its crew. As the Confederates had 
no boats to take them across, Forrest called for 
a man to swim the river and board the vessel. 

Captain Gracey, of the Third Kentucky regi¬ 
ment, offered to go. Stripping himself of his 
clothes and strapping a revolver about his neck, 
the gallant officer took his seat on a driftwood 
log and paddled across the river with a piece of 
plank. The ship-captain, who was still on the 
steamer, gave up when he saw Gracey’s pistol. 
Gracey found a boat, rowed back to his com¬ 
rades and brought a party of them over to the 
Mazeppa. It proved to be full of blankets, 
shoes, clothing, and food—things sadly needed 
by the ragged and half-fed Confederates. 

A number of other steamers, several of them 
gunboats, came into the trap and were captured, 
and the Federal shipping was almost driven 
from the Tennessee for a time. Forrest now 
had a new idea. He put Captain Gracey in 
command of the captured gunboat Undine and 


144 LIFE OF FORREST 

another vessel and sent him down the river to¬ 
ward the town of Johnsonville, where the Fed- 
erals had gathered vast quantities of supplies. 

This was perhaps the strangest feat ever done 
by horsemen. Gracey’s men knew nothing of 
ships, but they managed to keep the steamers 
going downstream until they met a fleet of Fed¬ 
eral gunboats. A battle followed between the 
naval cavalrymen and the gunboats, in which 
the latter were victorious. The Confederates 
ran their vessels ashore and set them on fire. 

Forrest now moved to attack Johnsonville. 
This place was defended by strong breastworks, 
manned by a large number of Federal troops. 
The Confederate commander, knowing that an 
attempt to storm the earthworks would cost him 
many men, planted his cannon on a nearby hill 
and opened fire on the town. The shells set the 
wooden warehouses afire, and soon supplies of 
all kinds worth millions of dollars were burning. 
The loss was very great. 

On November 6, Sherman sent word to 
Grant: “That devil Forrest was down about 
Johnsonville, making havoc among the gun¬ 
boats and transports/’ Several days later Grant 


THE LAST GREAT RAID 


145 


telegraphed to Thomas, in command at Nash¬ 
ville: “So long as Forrest holds Corinth he 
threatens several important points. Please talk 
with General Sherman as to the best means of 
getting rid of him. ,, 

Forrest had planned a long and fruitful raid 
in west Tennessee, but the movement was 
brought to an end by the fall mud. The roads 
were so deep in mire that it took sixteen horses 
to pull a single cannon. Forrest recrossed the 
Tennessee river from west Tennessee and 
joined General Hood at Florence, Alabama, on 
November 18, 1864. 

Stal'wart: strong, stoutly-built. 

Chem'ist: one who works with chemicals and drugs. 

Lab' o ra to' ry : the place where a chemist works. 

Give General Taylor’s description of Forrest. 

Tell of: 

Forrest’s raid into northern Alabama and middle 
Tennessee. 

His trick to capture the fort at Athens. 

His crossing of the Tennessee river with the enemy 
on the bank. 

His treatment of the young officer who would not 
work. 

His attack on the steamboats. 

Captain Gracey’s capture of a ship. 


CHAPTER ELEVEN 

HOOD’S RETREAT 


Hood put Forrest in command of all the cav¬ 
alry in his army,' numbering some five thousand 
men. It was a cold season, and the weather 
grew very bad as Hood advanced into Tennes¬ 
see with Forrest in front. A Federal officer 
says: “The Confederate army began its march 
in weather of great severity. It rained and 
snowed and hailed and froze. Forrest had come 
up with his cavalry and led the advance with 
wonderful energy.” 

The Southern cavalryman pushed rapidly 
ahead, driving the Federal horse before him. At 
Fouche Springs he attacked a force of cavalry 
much larger than his own, in front and rear, and 
routed it. So swiftly did he advance that he 
nearly cut off a Federal brigade from Duck 
river; the enemy barely escaped in time. For¬ 
rest crossed Duck river on November 28 and 
pressed the Northern cavalry steadily back to¬ 
ward Franklin. 


[ 146 ] 


HOOD’S RETREAT 


147 


Near Spring Hill, he defeated the Federal 
horse and sent a body of troops under Gen¬ 
eral Jackson to get in the rear of the Federal 
infantry column, falling back before Hood, and 
seize the highway leading to Nashville. Jack- 
son reached the road and made a stout attempt 
to hold it, but had to give it up for lack of aid. 
Hood’s generals handled his infantry badly, for 
they should have helped Jackson to cut off the 
Federal retreat. As it was, the Federal infan¬ 
try got safely to Franklin and took up a strong 
position on the top of a steep hill. 

After seeing the enemy’s position at Frank¬ 
lin, Forrest went to General Hood about mid¬ 
day on November 30, 1864. He told the South¬ 
ern commander that the Federal position was 
very strong and could be stormed only at great 
cost of life. Hood replied that he did not think 
the enemy would make a stand, if attacked. 

“General Hood,” pleaded Forrest, “if you will 
give me one strong division of infantry with 
my cavalry, I will agree to flank the Federals 
from their works in two hours’ time.” 

Hood answered that he had given his orders 
for the battle and that it must be fought. For- 


148 


LIFE OF FORREST 


rest was to place his cavalry on both flanks of 
the Southern line and to pursue the enemy if 
they were driven from the field. 

The battle of Franklin was the bloodiest strug¬ 
gle of the war for the Confederates in the rate 
of killed and wounded to the whole number of 
soldiers under fire; more than a third of them 
fell in this terrible fight. 

The Southern troops charged up a steep hill 
against breastworks bristling with cannon and 
held by infantry armed with breech-loading 
rifles. In spite of bravery never surpassed in 
the history of war, the Confederates were driven 
back at most places, though they succeeded in 
taking a small part of the Federal line. A dozen 
generals were shot down as they led their men 
up that deadly height. 

While the Confederate infantry tried to storm 
the ridge, Forrest fought a battle with the 
Northern cavalry under General Wilson. He 
crossed the Harpeth river in the hope of cutting 
off the Federal retreat to Nashville. On hear¬ 
ing of Hood’s failure to take the enemy’s posi¬ 
tions, he recrossed the stream. 

Late in the night the Federal army began to 


HOOD’S RETREAT 149 

retreat on Nashville. Forrest followed the 
enemy to that city, raiding around it, capturing 
small forts and driving steamers from the Cum¬ 
berland river. 

He fought a battle near Murfreesborough and 
seemed on the point of taking prisoner a strong 
Federal force, when the infantry fighting under 
him gave way in disorder. Forrest rode in 
among them, calling, '‘Rally, men—for God’s 
sake, rally!” 

The soldiers, however, paid no heed to him for 
once. Forrest, riding up to a fleeing color- 
bearer, told him to halt. As the man did not 
stop, the general shot him, dismounted, seized 
the flag and rallied the soldiers. The Federals 
fell back into the forts at Murfreesborough, 
which were too strong to be stormed. 

Grant feared that Forrest would force 
Thomas, the Federal commander at Nashville, 
to retreat toward Louisville. On December 2, 
he telegraphed to Thomas: "Is there not dan¬ 
ger of Forrest moving down the Cumberland to 
where he can cross it? It seems to me that 
you should be getting up your cavalry to look 
after Forrest; Hood should be attacked where 


150 


LIFE OF FORREST 


he is.” Thomas replied: “I have no doubt For¬ 
rest will try to cross the river, but I am in hopes 
the gunboats will be able to stop him.” 

On the morning of December 14, 1864, For¬ 
rest crossed Stone river with the view of cap¬ 
turing the enemy’s train of supply wagons. 
Here he learned that Hood was fighting a battle 
at Nashville and he at once turned to the aid 
of the Southern army. At nightfall on Decem¬ 
ber 16, the news reached him of Hood’s defeat. 
Hood sent him an earnest message, begging him 
to come and save the army, which was in great 
danger. 

A part of Forrest’s cavalry, under Generals 
Rucker and Chalmers, fought in the battle of 
Nashville with splendid courage. At the close 
of the day, when the Southern infantry were in 
full flight, Rucker and Chalmers held back Wil¬ 
son’s cavalry and gave Hood the chance to save 
the wreck of his army. There were few finer 
things in the war than this gallant stand of the 
Confederate horsemen, when all was lost and 
the enemy pressed around them in great masses. 
Rucker was wounded and captured, but he had 
done his work. 


DRAGGING CANNON ACROSS DUCK RIVER 



















152 


LIFE OF FORREST 


Forrest, making such speed as he could, joined 
Hood at Duck river near Columbia, on Decem¬ 
ber 18. He at once took command of the rear¬ 
guard of the Southern army. Adding four thou¬ 
sand of Hood’s best infantry to his cavalry, he 
made up a strong force of fighting men. The 
Federal General Thomas said that while the 
Confederate army retreated in disorder, “The 
rearguard was undaunted and firm, and did its 
work bravely to the last.” 

Some hundreds of the infantry of the rear¬ 
guard walked the snow-covered roads without 
shoes. Wrapping rags around their feet, they 
plodded onward through the snow and sleet; 
their bloody tracks marked the way. Forrest 
at last emptied a number of wagons for them 
to ride in. Whenever a fight was at hand, the 
barefoot soldiers left the wagons and took their 
places in the battle-line. As soon as the enemy 
had been driven back, they climbed into the 
wagons, and the column moved on. 

The weather was terrible. It was bitter cold 
at times, snowing and sleeting at others. The 
roads, which froze and thawed, were bottomless. 
The Southern soldiers, hungry, wet, and with- 


HOOD’S RETREAT 153 

out overcoats, suffered greatly; but they did not 
give up. 

The rearguard was almost never out of sight 
of .the enemy; fighting went on day and night. 
The Northern cavalry, well-fed and well- 
clothed, followed in overwhelming numbers. 
Yet Forrest’s men—mostly Tennesseeans, Ala¬ 
bamians, Mississippians—starving, freezing but 
always fighting, held back the blue masses and 
saved Hood’s army. 

In the last days of the retreat, Forrest turned 
fiercely on the enemy and defeated them in sev¬ 
eral fights. On Christmas evening he drove 
back the Federal cavalry, capturing a cannon. 
He crossed the Tennessee river on December 27, 
1864, behind Hood’s army. Thus closed one of 
the most terrible retreats in history. 

Forrest had done his bravest feat; there are 
few braver on record. But for him it is safe to 
say that Hood’s army would never have reached 
the Tennessee. When he formed the rearguard 
and took command of it, there seemed small 
chance of saving the Southern force. Just be¬ 
hind it came General Wilson with thousands of 
the finest cavalrymen of the North. The Con- 


154 LIFE OF FORREST 

federates were almost without food, and their 
horses could scarcely drag the cannon along the 
muddy roads. 

Then Forrest took charge of the army. He 
pointed out the movements to be made, chose 
the roads and guided the artillery and wagon 
trains. He led the rearguard in person, fighting 
with such skill and courage that Wilson at last 
gave up the pursuit in despair. By his untiring 
labors, he brought the army across the Tennes¬ 
see in safety. 

There was gloom among the suffering sol¬ 
diers, but none in Forrest’s heart. When his 
men were over the Tennessee, he made them a 
speech in which he spoke of their glorious deeds 
in the dying year of 1864. He said that they 
had fought fifty battles, killed and taken sixteen 
thousand of the enemy, captured two thousand 
horses, three hundred wagons, many cannon and 
steamboats, and destroyed two hundred miles 
of railroad track and $15,000,000 worth of 
property. 

He said in closing: “Bring with you the sol¬ 
diers’ safest armor—the determination to fight 
while the enemy is on your soil; to fight as long 


HOOD’S RETREAT 


155 


as he denies your rights; to fight until freedom 
shall have been won; to fight for home, children, 
and all that you hold dear.” 

The South was beaten, the war was drawing 
to its close, but Forrest still faced the future 
with a brave and hopeful heart. Whatever 
came to pass, he would do his duty to the end. 

Di vis' ion: a unit of an army made up of two or more 
brigades. 

Brist' ling : thickly planted. 

Breech - loading : a gun loaded at the breech instead 
of through the muzzle. 

Col' or - bear' er: a soldier who carries a flag. 

Tell how Forrest almost captured a Federal column 
at Spring Hill. 

Tell of the battle of Franklin and Forrest’s advice to 
Hood. 

Give an account of Rucker and Chalmers at the battle 
of Nashville and of Forrest in the retreat. 

Tell of the heroism of his men, and how Forrest en¬ 
couraged them. 


CHAPTER TWELVE 

THE LAST BATTLE 

Forrest had won new glory in the movement 
which ended in Hood's sad defeat and retreat 
into Alabama. In the hour of trial, when the 
Confederacy was everywhere breaking down, 
his genius shone like a single star in a black 
night. In January, 1865, the Confederate gov¬ 
ernment made him commander of all the cav¬ 
alry in Alabama, Mississippi, and east Louis¬ 
iana. He at once went to work with zeal to fit 
out his broken-down troops for new battles. 

On February 28, 1865, he was made a lieu¬ 
tenant-general. Thus in the closing months of 
the war, when too late to be of much avail, Pres¬ 
ident Davis gave Forrest high rank and wide 
power. Starting as a private, he had risen to 
next to the highest rank in the Confederate 
army. No other man had been thus advanced. 

Forrest had but little time in which to pre¬ 
pare for the defense of Alabama and Missis¬ 
sippi. The Federals, to the number of seventy- 
[156] 


THE LAST BATTLE 


157 


five thousand men, were making ready to at¬ 
tack those States from all sides. The chief 
danger was General James H. Wilson, who 
started into Alabama, on March 22, 1865, with 
about fifteen thousand fine cavalry armed with 
repeating-rifles. He was making for Selma to 
destroy the Southern arsenal and workshops in 
that town. 

Forrest was not able to meet Wilson with all 
his soldiers, for some of them were needed to 
hold back Federal columns coming from the 
east. Leaving a part of his troops to face these 
forces, Forrest turned against Wilson with 
about two thousand men. He di;ew up a skilful 
plan of battle for the use of his officers. A copy 
of this plan fell into the hands of Wilson, who 
thus learned just where Forrest had posted his 
troops. 

The Federal commander attacked a part of 
the Southern force with overwhelming numbers 
and drove it back. The fight was hand-to-hand 
and most bloody. Wilson’s ca/alry made a 
saber charge at one point. When Forrest saw 
the troopers riding down on him with their 
swords raised in the air, he ordered his men to 


158 LIFE OF FORREST 

fire their rifles and then meet the Federal col¬ 
umn with drawn pistols. In a moment the 
Northern soldiers were striking with their 
sabers at the Confederates, who replied with 
their revolvers. 

Forrest was known to the Federals by de¬ 
scription, and they made every effort to kill him. 
At one time six of them were slashing at him 
with their sabers. His pistol was struck from 
his hand and he was in great danger, when a 
Confederate shot the Federal who was pressing 
him hardest, giving the general a chance to draw 
his other revolver. Forrest killed another of 
the enemy, and the rest were driven off by his 
men. 

While this fight was going on, however, a 
second column of Federals came up in the rear 
of the Southerners. Forrest now retreated to¬ 
ward Selma, fighting fiercely and having great 
difficulty in holding back the overwhelming 
numbers of the enemy. If it had not been for 
the desperate courage of his men, he would 
probably have been killed or taken prisoner. 

Forrest fell back into Selma on April 2, 1865, 
closely followed by Wilson’s troops. General 


THE LAST BATTLE 


159 


Taylor says: “Forrest appeared, horse and 
man covered with blood, and said that the ene¬ 
my were at his heels and that I must move at 
once to escape capture. I felt anxious for him, 
but he said he was unhurt and would cut his 
way through, as most of his men had done, 
whom he ordered to meet him west of the 
Catawba.” 

The cavalry leader made a last effort to de¬ 
fend Selma. There was one line of earthworks, 
which ran around the town in horseshoe shape 
and came to an end on the bank of the Alabama 
river. Forrest relied chiefly on Armstrong’s bri¬ 
gade, numbering fourteen hundred men, which 
was placed on the left of the line of battle. 
Roddey’s small force was on the right; the cen¬ 
ter was filled in with militia and citizens, whom 
Forrest forced to fight. So scanty were the 
numbers for the long line that there was a space 
of ten feet between the men as they stood be¬ 
hind the earthworks. 

The Federals attacked in the afternoon of 
April 2. A charge made on Armstrong’s posi¬ 
tion failed with great loss, but the enemy broke 
through the center of the Southern line, held by 


160 


LIFE OF FORREST 


raw militia. A gap was left through which the 
Federals poured. When the militia gave way, 
Forrest rushed into the gap, to hold it until 
Roddey’s troops from the right could come to 
the rescue. The enemy were in such numbers, 
however, that they pushed forward, forcing 
both Armstrong and Roddey to fall back. 

The Southern cavalry made another brave 
stand some distance to the rear of the earth¬ 
works. Wilson’s men charged forward again 
and carried everything before them. In this 
fight Armstrong showed great daring, holding 
back the enemy as the Confederates retreated. 

Forrest, seeing that the battle was lost, told 
his men to mount their horses and escape as 
best they could. He was one of the last to 
leave the field and had to fight his way through 
a column of Wilson’s cavalry coming up on the 
side. In this fierce combat, the last in which 
he took part, Forrest killed another Federal 
soldier. 

After the defeat at Selma, the general drew 
together his scattered forces at Marion and 
then withdrew to Gainesville. Here he heard 
that General Robert E. Lee had surrendered on 



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162 


LIFE OF FORREST 


April 9 at Appomattox, in Virginia. Not being 
sure that the news was true, he told his soldiers 
on April 25: 

“It is the duty of every man to stand firm at 
his post and true to his colors. Your past ser¬ 
vices, your gallant and heroic conduct on many 
fields forbid the thought that you will ever 
ground your arms except with honor. Duty to 
your country, to yourselves, and to the gallant 
dead who have fallen in this great struggle for 
liberty demand that every man shall continue 
to do his duty. . . . Keep the nanie you have 
so nobly won and leave results to Him who in 
wisdom controls and governs all things.” 

A few days later Forrest heard from General 
Taylor of Lee’s surrender in Virginia and : of 
Johnston’s in North Carolina. The war was 
over. Forrest then told his men that they could 
fight no longer, that they must go to their 
homes. General Taylor had surrendered all the 
Southern troops east of the Mississippi river, 
among whom Forrest’s command was counted. 
This was on May 9, 1865. 

The soldiers were overcome with wonder and 
grief. Some of them wept like children; others 


THE LAST BATTLE 


163 


said that they would not give up. They asked 
Forrest to lead them across the Mississippi 
river and continue the war in Texas. Forrest 
refused, saying that what could not be done east 
of the Mississippi could not be done in the 
thinly-settled West. 

The soldiers of the Seventh Tennessee cav¬ 
alry, which had fought through the whole war 
and won glory in a hundred battles, cut their 
flag to pieces; each man took a fragment. The 
flag had been the gift of a young lady in Mis¬ 
sissippi, made of her bridal dress, and the men 
were determined that they would not give it up. 

Forrest, in his farewell address, spoke in 
glowing terms of the services of his men and 
urged them to be as good citizens in peace as 
they had proved themselves brave and faithful 
soldiers. The general stayed in Gainesville 
until the last of his men had left for their 
homes. He then started by rail for Memphis. 

The train was crowded with soldiers and citi¬ 
zens homeward bound, and the track was in such 
a state that travel was slow. Near Jackson, 
Mississippi, the rails spread, bringing the train 
to a stop. 


164 


LIFE OF FORREST 


It seemed likely that the passengers would 
be kept there for hours, until the cars could be 
raised and the rails brought together. Forrest, 
however, at once took command. He was so 
used to the control of soldiers that it had be¬ 
come his nature to lead. 

Ordering the men to leave the train, he soon 
had them working at levers to raise the cars. 
The first effort did not succeed, and the general 
was told that all of the men had not left the 
cars. At that he boarded the train, calling out 
loudly, “If you rascals don’t get out of here and 
help get this car on the track, I will throw 
every one of you through the windows.” The 
laggards tumbled out of the train without de¬ 
lay and were put to work at the levers. In a 
short time the rails were brought together and 
the train steamed on its way. 

When Forrest reached Memphis, some of his 
friends urged him to leave the country, as they 
feared that he would be put in prison in spite 
of his parole. His reply showed his calm and 
steady courage: 

“This is my country. I am hard at work on 
my plantation and keeping the terms of my 


THE LAST BATTLE 


165 


parole. If the Federal government does not re¬ 
gard it, they will be sorry. I will not go away.” 

Forrest was not troubled by the Federal gov¬ 
ernment and he went on quietly with the work 
of clearing and planting his lands. .The war 
was over and he turned to other things. 

Lieutenant - general : the rank in an army next to 
general, the highest grade. 

Re peat'ing - ri'fie : a gun which fires a number of 
shots without reloading. 

Mil it' ia (mil ish' a) : soldiers who serve at home, who 
have seen little fighting and are untrained. 

Parole': a promise given by a soldier on surrender¬ 
ing not to fight again. 

Tell of Forrest’s recognition and promotion. 

Describe Wilson’s raid and Forrest’s plan to defeat it. 

Give an account of the battle of Selma. 

Describe the last days of Forrest’s long fight of four 
years. 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN 

AFTER THE WAR 


Forrest was not the man to grieve or repine 
because he had fought on the losing side in a 
great war. He had done his best for the South 
—no one had done better—but the South had 
failed to gain a place among the nations. Since 
this was so, Forrest was willing to become a 
loyal citizen of the United States and give his 
best efforts to build up the wasted land. 

It might seem strange that a soldier who had 
moved for four years amidst the most stirring 
scenes of war should be able to settle down at 
once to a quiet life. Yet Forrest did this. He 
lost no time in going to work on his plantation, 
which greatly needed his labor and care. 

In two or three years the plantation was in 
perfect shape and bringing in a good income. 
Forrest then turned to a larger field, to a work 
that was public in its nature. For three years 
he busied himself with building a railroad from 
Selma, Alabama, to the Mississippi river. At 
first he met with success, getting money and 
[ 166 ] 


AFTER THE WAR 


167 


laying tracks. Then a great panic swept the 
whole country and brought the railroad to an 
end along with other works of the same kind. 
The general went back to farming. 

While at work on the railroad, Forrest had 
a quarrel with one of the contractors, in which 
he used violent language. As was then the cus¬ 
tom, the contractor challenged him to fight a 
duel. Forrest agreed to fight and the prepara¬ 
tions were made. Early in the morning of the 
day set for the duel, the general said to a friend 
who was with him, “I feel sure I can kill the 
man, and if I do, I will never forgive myself. 
I know that he was right in resenting the way 
I talked to him. I am in the wrong, and I do 
not feel satisfied about it.” 

“General Forrest,” said the friend, “your 
courage has never been questioned. If I were 
you, I should feel it my duty to apologize.” 

“You are right,” said Forrest. “I will do it.” 

He sought the man he was about to fight, told 
him that he was in the wrong, and shook hands 
with him. There was no duel. Forrest never 
did a braver thing than this, for it takes great 
courage to admit being in the wrong. 


168 


LIFE OF FORREST 


The year 1870 found Tennessee in a very bad 
condition. The State had been almost ruined 
by the war and it was now governed by men 
who led the negroes and were elected to office 
by their votes. There was much waste of public 
money and lawlessness; in some parts the white 
people went in fear of their lives. A secret 
society called the Ku Ivlux Klan had been 
formed to overthrow the negro power and bring 
the State again under the rule of the white race. 
This society did some terrible things in carrying 
out its plan. 

General Forrest is thought by many people 
to have been one of the leaders of the Ku Klux 
Klan, if not its head. There is no proof of this, 
however, and he himself said that he took no 
active part in the deeds of the society. It is, 
therefore, most unlikely that he was the leader 
of it. 

Forrest spent the last years of his life in 
working his plantation. He met with such suc¬ 
cess that he not only made a good living but 
was able to help many needy Confederate sol¬ 
diers and families of soldiers. He shared his 
income with them, and after his death his wife 


AFTER THE WAR 


169 


kept up the good work with great generosity, 
spending most of the fortune Forrest left her. 

Forrest was a devoted father as well as hus¬ 
band. In April, 1865, when full of anxiety about 
the future, he wrote his son the following letter: 

Gainesville, Ala., 

April 15 , 1865 . 

Lieut. Wm. M. Forrest: 


My dear Son: 

Loving you with all the affection which a fond father 
can bestow upon a dutiful son, I deem it my duty to 
give you a few words of advice. Life, as you know, is 
uncertain at best, and occupying the position I do it is 
exceedingly hazardous. I may fall at any time, or I 
may, at no distant day, be an exile in a foreign land, 
and I desire to address you a few words, which I trust 
you will remember through life. 

You have heretofore been an obedient, dutiful son. 
You have given your parents but little pain or trouble, 
and I hope you will strive to profit by any suggestions 
I may make. I have had a full understanding with your 
mother as to our future operations in the event the enemy 
overruns the country. She will acquaint you with our 
plans and will look to you in the hour of trouble. Be to 
her a prop and support; she is worthy of all the love 
you bestow upon her. I know how devoted you are to 
her, but study her happiness and above and beyond all 
things, give her no cause for unhappiness. Try to emu¬ 
late her noble virtues and practice her blameless life. I? 
I have been wicked and sinful myself, it would rejoice my 


170 


LIFE OF FORREST 


heart to see you leading the Christian life which has 
adorned your mother. 

What I most desire of you, my son, is never to gamble 
or swear. These are baneful vices, and I trust you will 
never practice either. As I grow older I see the folly of 
these two vices, and beg that you will never engage in 
them. Your life heretofore has been elevated and char¬ 
acterized by a high-toned morality, and I trust your name 
will never be stained by the practice of those vices which 
have blighted the prospects of some of the most promi¬ 
nent youth of our country. 

Be honest, be truthful, in all your dealings with the 
world. Be cautious, in the selection of your friends. 
Shun the society of the low and vulgar. Strive to elevate 
your character and to take a high and honorable position 
in society. You are my only child, the pride and hope 
of my life. You have fine intellect, talent of the highest 
order. I have watched your entrance upon the threshold 
of manhood and life with all the admiration of a proud 
father, and I trust your future career will be an honor 
to yourself and a solace to my declining years. If we 
meet no more on earth, I hope you will keep this letter 
prominently before you and remember it as coming from 
Your affectionate father, 

N. B. Forrest. 

Ten years after the war the general’s health 
gave way. The four hard years of struggle had 
undermined his iron strength. He had marched 
and fought and worked for days and nights at 
a time, giving himself wholly to the cause he 


AFTER THE WAR 


171 


served. He now had to pay the price of Over¬ 
work. 

As his health failed, Forrest changed greatly. 
Hot-tempered, wilful, strong in body and mind 
as he had always been, he was, nevertheless, a 
very tender man. This tenderness came out in 
him with the approach of death. General 
Wheeler said of him about this time: “Every 
suggestion of harshness had gone from his face, 
and he seemed to have in these last days the 
gentleness of expression, the voice and manner 
of a woman.” 

He joined the church not long before the end. 
He said to General John T. Morgan: “General, 
I am broken in health and in spirit, and have 
not long to live. My life has been a battle from 
the start. It was a fight to make a livelihood 
for those dependent on me in my younger days, 
and an independence for myself when I grew up 
to manhood, as well as in the terrible struggle 
of the Civil War. I have seen too much of vio¬ 
lence, and I want to close my days at peace 
with all the world, as I am now at peace with 
my Maker.” 

Forrest’s last appearance in public was at a 


172 


LIFE OF FORREST 


reunion of the Seventh Tennessee cavalry, on 
September 21, 1877. He was called on for a 
speech as he sat his horse, and, without dis¬ 
mounting, he made a talk to his men: 

“Soldiers of the Seventh Tennessee cavalry, 
ladies, and gentlemen: I name the soldiers first 
because I love them best. I am very much 
pleased to meet them here to-day. I love the 
gallant men with whom I served in the war. 
You can hardly realize what must pass through 
a commander’s mind when called upon to meet 
in reunion the brave spirits, who, through four 
years of war and bloodshed, fought fearlessly 
for a cause that they thought right, and wno, 
even when they foresaw, as we did, that the war 
must close in disaster, yet did not quail but 
fought as boldly and stubbornly in their last 
battles as in their first. 

“Nor do I forget those gallant spirits who 
sleep coldly in death upon the many bloody 
battlefields of the war. I love them, too, and 
honor their memory. I have often been called 
to the side of those who had been struck down 
in the battle, and they would put their arms 
around my neck, draw me down to them and 


AFTER THE WAR 


173 


say, 'General, I have fought my last battle and 
will soon be gone. I want you to remember my 
wife and children and take care of them.’ Com¬ 
rades, I have remembered their wives and little 
ones and have taken care of them, and I want 
every one of you to remember them also and 
join with me in the labor of love. 

‘'Comrades, through the years of bloodshed 
and weary marches, you were tried and true sol¬ 
diers. So through the years of peace you have 
been good citizens; and now that we are again 
united under the old flag, I love it as I did in 
the days of my youth, and I feel sure that you 
also love it. \es, I love and honor the old flag 
as much as those who followed it on the other 
side; and I am sure that I but express your feel¬ 
ings when I say that should our country de¬ 
mand our services, you would follow me to 
battle as eagerly under that banner as ever you 
followed me in our late war. It was thought by 
some that our social reunions were wrong, that 
they would be represented to the North as an 
evidence that we were again ready to break out 
into civil war. But I think that they are right 
and proper; we will show our countrymen by 


174 


LIFE OF FORREST 


our conduct that brave soldiers are always good 
citizens and law-abiding and loyal men. 

“Soldiers, I was afraid that I would not be 
able to be with you to-day, but I could not bear 
the thought of not meeting you here, and I will 
always try to meet with you in the future. I 
hope that you will continue to come together 
from year to year, and bring your wives and 
children with you. Let them and the children 
who may come after enjoy the pleasure of your 
reunions.” 

The best of care could not preserve Forrest’s 
life longer. He died at Memphis, on October 
29, 1877., at the age of fifty-six. 

His death caused great grief throughout the 
South, and especially in those States he had de¬ 
fended in so many battles and marches. Ex- 
President Davis and other noted Confederates 
came to his funeral and followed his body to its 
resting-place in the beautiful Elmwood Ceme¬ 
tery. 

As they drove along in the funeral procession, 
Governor Porter of Tennessee said to Mr. 
Davis: “History has given to General Forrest 
the first place as a cavalry leader in the War 


AFTER THE WAR 175 

between the States and has named him as one 
of the half-dozen great soldiers of the country.” 

“I agree with you,” replied Mr. Davis. “The 
trouble was that the generals commanding in 
the Southwest never saw what was in Forrest 
until it was too late. Their judgment was that 
he was a bold raider and rider. I was misled 
by them, and I never knew how to measure him 
until I read his reports of his movement across 
the Tennessee river in 1864.” 

In such words the Southern President ad¬ 
mitted that much more might have been done 
for the cause if Forrest’s genius had been under¬ 
stood and the great cavalry leader given wider 
power and more troops. 

Chal' lenge: to dare, to invite to fight. 

Pan'ic: in this case, a sudden stoppage of business 
due to widespread money troubles. 

Give an account of Forrest’s life after the war—his 
private and his public work. 

Tell what side of Forrest’s character was brought out 
by the quarrel with his contractor. 

Describe Forrest’s last days. 

Give the words of praise spoken by Governor Porter 
and President Davis. 


CHAPTER FOURTEEN 

THE MILITARY GENIUS 

Great soldiers are seldom self-made men— 
that is, they usually enjoy the advantages of 
education and early training. In order to rise 
to high rank in war, a man must have a kind of 
knowledge that cannot be gained in the ordi¬ 
nary pursuits of life. It is learned in a military 
school, or by serving in war. Nearly all great 
American soldiers passed through a long period 
of training before they did the deeds that 
brought them rank and fame—as, for instance, 
Washington, Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. 

Nathan B. Forrest, however, was a soldier 
who won great victories and did wonderful 
deeds without any military training and almost 
without education. In his case we say that 
genius was inborn, and at once showed itself 
when the chance came. “Forrest,” said a 
writer, “was born a soldier as some men are 
born poets.” The'simple farmer and business 
man, who knew nothing of war when the call to 
[ 176 ] 


THE MILITARY GENIUS 


177 


arms came in 1861, proved to be one of the 
ablest generals in the War between the States. 

The great things he did are better understood 
to-day than ever before; the fame of Nathan 
B. Forrest has grown steadily with the years. 
At first he was not so well known as Lee, Jack- 
son, Grant, and Sherman, because he never led 
a great army, but as time passes his glory has 
come to rival that of those famous generals. 
Many students of war think that he was one of 
the greatest cavalry leaders of all history. 

General Sherman said of him: “After all, I 
think Forrest was the most remarkable man the 
Civil War produced on either side. In the first 
place, he was uneducated while Jackson and 
Sheridan and other leaders were soldiers by 
calling. He never read a military book in his 
life, but he had a genius for war. There was no 
way by which I could tell what Forrest was up 
to. He seemed always to know what I intended 
to do, while I am free to confess I could never 
tell what he was trying to do.” 

General Joseph E. Johnston was once asked 
who he thought was the greatest soldier of the 
War between the States. “Forrest,” he said 


178 


LIFE OF FORREST 


promptly. “If he had had the advantages of a 
military education, he would have been the 
great central figure of the Civil War.” 

Lord Wolseley, the English general, wrote 
thus of him: “Forrest had no knowledge of 
military history to tell him how he should act, 
what he should aim at, and what plans he should 
make. He did not know what other generals in 
former wars had done in similar conditions. 
What he lacked in book lore was largely made 
up for by the soundness of his judgment, and 
by his power of thinking under fire and when 
greatly fatigued. Panic found no resting-place 
in that calm brain of his, and no danger made 
his spirit afraid. He was nature's soldier.” 

Another time Wolseley said: “Forrest fought 
like a knight-errant for the cause he believed 
to be that of justice and right. No man who 
drew the sword for his country in that struggle 
deserves better of her; and as long as the deeds 
of her sons find poets to describe them and fair 
women to sing them, the name of this gallant 
general will be remembered with love and ad¬ 
miration.” 

Forrest's genius for war is shown by the fact 



FORREST MONUMENT AT MEMPHIS 



























180 


LIFE OF FORREST 


that he found out for himself the great rule laid 
down by Napoleon. Napoleon said, “War is the 
art of being stronger than the enemy at a given 
point.” When Forrest was once asked how he 
won his victories, he answered, “I got there first 
with the most men.” He meant that in spite 
of the fact that he was nearly always outnum¬ 
bered in battle he frequently had the strongest 
force at the deciding point. 

Several monuments have been put up in mem¬ 
ory of the famous cavalry leader. The best 
known of them is probably that at Memphis, 
Tennessee. Here, in his own home city, looking 
out over the rich and prosperous State for which 
he fought so bravely, stands the figure of the 
great Tennesseean. 

Tell what you know of Forrest as a military genius. 

How was Forrest regarded by Sherman? by John¬ 
ston? by Lord Wolseley? 


WAR POEMS 


A BALLAD OF EMMA SANSON 

JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE 

s 

The courage of man is one thing, but that of a maid is 
more, 

For blood is blood, and death is death, and grim is the 
battle gore, 

And the rose that blooms, tho’ blistered by the sleet of 
an open sky, 

Is fairer than its sisters are 

Who sleep in the hothouse nigh. 

Word came up to Forrest that Streight was on a raid— 

Two thousand booted bayonets were riding down the 
glade. 

Eight thousand were before him—he was holding Dodge 
at bay, 

But he turned on his heels like the twist of a steel, 

And was off at the break of day. 

****** 

A fight to the death in the valley, and a fight to the 
death on the hill, 

But still Streight thunder’d southward, and Forrest fol¬ 
lowed still. 


[181] 



182 WAR POEMS 

And the goaded hollows bellow’d to the bay of the rebel 
gun— 

For Forrest was hot as a solid shot 

When its flight is just begun. 

* * * * * * 

A midnight fight on the mountain, and a daybreak fight 
in the glen, 

And when Streight stopped for water he had lost three 
hundred men. 

But he gained the bridge at the river and planted his 
batteries there, 

And the halt of the gray was a hound at bay. 

And the blue—a wolf in his lair. 

And out from the bridge at the river a white heat light¬ 
ning came, 

Like the hungry tongues of a forest fire, with the autumn 
woods aflame; 

And the death-smoke burst above them, and the death- 
heat blazed below, 

But the men in gray cheered the smoke away, 

And bared their breast to the blow. 

“To the ford ! To the ford!” rang the bugle—“and flank 
the enemy out!” 

And quick to the right the gray lines wheel and answer 
with a shout. 

But the river was mad and swollen—to left—to right— 
no ford— 

And still the sting of the maddened thing 

At the bridge, and still the goad. 


WAR POEMS 


183 


Then out from a nearby cabin a mountain maiden came, 

Her cheeks were banks of snowdrifts, but her eyes were 
skies of flame, 

And she drew her sunbonnet closer as the bullets whis¬ 
pered low— 

(Lovers of lead), and one of them said: 

“I’ll clip a curl as I go!” 

Straight through the blistering bullets she fled like a 
hunted doe, 

While the hound-guns down at the river bayed in her 
wake below. 

And around, their hot breath shifted, and behind, their 
pattering feet, 

But still she fled through the thunder red, 

And still through the lightning sleet. 

And she stood at the General’s stirrup, flushed as a 
mountain rose, 

When the sun looks down in the morning, and the gray 
mist upward goes. 

She stood at the General’s stirrup and this was all she 
said: 

“I’ll lead the way to the ford to-day— 

I’m a girl; but I’m not afraid!” 

How the gray troops thronged around her! And then 
the rebel yell— 

With that brave girl to lead them they would storm the 
gates of hell! 

And they toss her behind the General, and again the 
echoes woke, 


184 


WAR POEMS 


For she clung to him there with her floating hair 

As the wild vine clings to the oak. 

Down through the bullets she led them, down through 
an unused road, 

And, when the General dismounted to use his glass on 
the ford, 

She spread her skirts before him (the troopers gave a 
cheer) : 

“Better get behind me, General, 

For the bullets will hit you here!” 

And then the balls came singing and ringing quick and 
hot, 

But the gray troops gave them ball for ball and answer 
shot for shot. 

“They have riddled your skirt,” the General said, “I 
must take you out of this din.” 

“Oh, that’s all right,” she answered light— 

“They are wounding my crinoline!” 

And then, in a blaze of beauty, her sunbonnet off she 
took, 

Right in the front she waved it high and at their lines 
it shook. 

And the gallant bluecoats cheered her—ceased firing to 
a man, 

And the graycoats rode through the bloody ford, 

And again the race began. 


WAR POEMS 


185 


LITTLE GIFFEN 

FRANCIS 0. TICKNOR 
Out of the focal and foremost fire, 

Out of the hospital walls as dire; 

Smitten of grape-shot and gangrene 
(Eighteenth battle, and he sixteen!), 

Spectre! such as you seldom see, 

Little Giffen, of Tennessee! 

“Take him and welcome!” the surgeons said; 
Little the doctor can help the dead! 

So we took him and brought him where 
The balm was sweet in the summer air; 

And laid him down on a wholesome bed,— 
Utter Lazarus, heel to head! 

And we watched the war with ’bated breath,— 
Skeleton Boy, against skeleton Death, 

Months of torture, how many such? 

Weary weeks of the stick and crutch; 

And still a glint of the steel-blue eye 
Told of a spirit that wouldn’t die. 

And didn’t. Nay, more! in death’s despite 
The crippled skeleton learned to write. 

Dear mother, at first, of course; and then 
Dear captain, inquiring about the men. 
Captain’s answer: “Of eighty-and-five, 

Giffen and I are left alive.” 


186 


WAR POEMS 


Word of gloom from the war, one day; 

Johnston pressed at the front, they say. 

Little Giffen was up and away; 

A tear—his first—as he bade good-by. 

Dimmed the glint of his steel-blue eye. 

“I’ll write, if spared!” There wa'S news of the fight 
But none of Giffen.—He did not write. 

I sometimes fancy that, were I king 
Of the princely Knights of the Golden Ring, 

With the song of the minstrel in mine ear, . 

And the tender legend that trembles here, 

I’d give the best on his bended knee, 

The whitest soul of my chivalry, 

For “Little Giffen,” of Tennessee. 






I 



4 


% % • • • 


i * • 











Supplementary Reading 

“Tell Me A Story” Price, Postpaid 

Mrs. LidaB. McMurry. For the First Grade .36 

So-Fat and Mew-Mew 

Georgiana Craik May. For the First Grade .36 

Grimm’s Fairy Stories 

M. W. Haliburton and P. P. Claxton. For 
the First and Second Grades.36 

Fifty Famous Fables 

Lida B. McMurry. For the Second Grade.36 

Around the Lightwood Fire 

Caroline M. Brevard. Indian Myths and 
Legends. For the Third Grade.45 

From the Land of Stories 

P. P. Claxton. A delightful little volume of 
fairy tales adapted from the German. For 
the Third Grade.30 

Wonder Tales 

Hans Andersen. For the Third Grade.50 

Stories of Bird Life 

T. Gilbert Pearson. For the Grammar Grades .60 

The Gold Bug and Other Selections (Poe) 

R. A. Stewart. For the Grammar Grades. 36 

(Ask for catalog of other books for supplementary reading) 


B. F. Johnson Publishing Company 

RICHMOND, VA. 










Supplementary Historical Reading 

_ . „ _ _ Price, Postpaid 

Life of General Robert E. Lee 

For Third and Fourth Grades _ _$ .50 

Life of General Thomas J. Jackson 

For Third and Fourth Grades.. . 50 

Life of Washington 

For Fourth and Fifth Grades. . 50 

Life of General N. B. Forrest 

For Fifth Grade . 50 

Life of General J. E. B. Stuart 

4 For Fifth and Sixth Grades . 50 

Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia 

For Fifth Grade ... 50 

Tennessee History Stories 

For Third and Fourth Grades . 50 

North Carolina History Stories 

For Fourth and Fifth Grades . 50 

Texas History Stories 

For Fifth and Sixth Grades . 50 

Half-Hours in Southern History 

For Sixth and Seventh Grades . 75 

The Yemassee ( Complete Edition) 

For Seventh and Eighth Grades . 75 

(Ask for catalog containing list of other supplementary reading) 

B. F. JOHNSON PUBLISHING COMPANY 

RICHMOND, VA. 















The Child’s World Readers 

By 

SARAH WITHERS 

Principal Elementary Grades and Critic Teacher, Win- 
throp Normal and Industrial College (S. C.) 

HETTY S. BROWNE J 

Extension Worker in Rural School Practice, Winthrop 
Normal and Industrial College. 

WILLIAM KNOX TATE 

Professor of Rural Education, George Peabody College 
for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn. 


Primer. 32 

First Reader... 36 

Second Reader.42 

Third Reader.,. .4*6 

Fourth Reader. .54 

Fifth Reader... 60 

Manual... .40 

Word Cards (129), per set........ .60 


(Ask for sample pages and beautiful illustrations) 


B. F. JOHNSON PUBLISHING COMPANY 

RICHMOND, YA. 



























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